The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier

Contents

This supplement includes two maps and three books. The maps pick up where the previous Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting maps ended.

Publication history

The North first appeared in the 1987 Forgotten Realms Campaign Set, then received more coverage in Waterdeep and the North later that year, though critic Jim Bambra considered that section lacking. The 1988 release The Savage Frontier was entirely devoted to the area. Volo's Guide to the North, a 1993 travel-guide-style accessory, added further detail and atmosphere. The 1996 boxed set The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier became the most comprehensive product on the region, drawing heavily from earlier works.

Reception

Trenton Webb reviewed The North: Guide to the Savage Frontier for Arcane magazine, rating it a 6 out of 10 overall. He commented that the product gives the crowd what it wants: berserk barbarians and arcane magicians battling orc hordes. He noted that it fills out the top of the Forgotten Realms maps with cities, peoples, legends, monsters and treasure, and offers fair if not brilliant value for the price. He found the Wilderness book's overview style left it with a scant, breathless feel as it rushed between locations, with descriptions that were functional lists of facts and stats and little time for embellishments, resulting in a lifeless portrayal of the cold land.

He felt the Daggerford book illustrates how life goes on in a harsh frontier town, with Daggerford itself a little sparse and bleak, reflecting the lawless lands; everyone in Daggerford appears to be an adventurer, creating a rich mine of rumor, skill and knowledge for great adventures. Webb concluded that the North offers enough nuggets of information to make it a suitable base for a campaign, providing a refreshingly uncluttered place that encourages hacking business.