Frostburn - WoTC Environment Series

[talien]

Shameless Plug

I don't know, it sounds kind of neat. Let's think about what a book like this could include:

Supplemental rules for cold-weather encounters and hazards
Fluff on different ways cultures might adapt to cold weather
Arctic monsters (probably a big chunk of the book) and variants
Relevant equipment and magic items
Prestige classes and maybe a base class for denizens of the North
Adventure hooks to get people involved in arctic games

It sounds like it could be pretty cool (no pun intended). My guess is that this started off as a guide to Icewind Dale, and then they realized that it would sell better as a more generic product. It makes me wonder if Keith Baker's aquatic adventure material -- originally intended for Eberron -- will make its way into the generic aquatic adventures book.

BTW, Frost & Fur looks really nice, especially with its beautiful Andy Brase art. It's a shame for it that the "official" version will be coming out.

Wow Johnny, you nearly described Frost & Fur's contents. I should point out that the below is not actually divided up as you see it here, although that's how I wrote it (i.e., all the monsters are together, all the spells are together, etc.). Here's a summary of the various sections - it's got a lot for both players and GMs.

ESKIMO SECTION
=============
3 new cultures
1 new class
3 new prestige classes
4 new skills
3 new twists on old skills
8 new weapons
3 new armors (actually 12 including 9 varieties of hide)
6 new transportation vehicles
4 new shelters
14 new magic items
11 new monsters
5 new feats
24 new spells
20 new deities
9 campaign hooks

SLAVIC SECTION
=============
* Three new races, including the triglaz (three-eyed), bogatyr (hero knights), and the blessed (who have marks of the stars that give them special powers).
* Three new classes, including the Cossack (ranger-type, without spells, emphasis on mounts), Koldun (evil wizard), and Volkhov (cleric/druid cross).
* Six new prestige classes, including the bogatyr (another variaion of the hero knight), boyar (land owner, taken from Avalanche Press' OGL Vlad the Impaler -- heavily revised), skomorokh (entertainer who uses bears), vedma (witch), vorozhei (fortune teller), and znakhar (healer).
* 24 new weapons.
* 12 new types of armor.
* Lots of magical items: 15 new potions, 2 new rings, 1 new staff, 3 new weapons, 2 new armor, 35 new wondrous items, 6 new minor artifacts, 5 new cursed items.
* 33 new monsters. Some are reprinted and updated. My personal favorite is the Singing Bun, the progenitor of the Gingerbread Man. I put it in for laughs.
* 21 new spells.
* 6 new gods.
* 6 campaign hooks to round it out.

NORDIC SECTION
=============
* Three new classes: Godi (pagan priest), vitki (runecaster), and voelva (shamaness)
* Five new prestige classes: Artificer, berserker, glimumann (Nordic wrestler), jomsviking (Norse mercenary), and leech (herb healer)
* Two skill clarifications
* One new armor, the byrnie
* Four kinds of shelter
* Eight new kinds of transportation
* 13 different weapons
* Eight new magic items
* Six new monsters, including: linnorm, draugr, haugbui, ketta, nykur, and trow
* 38 new feats, including galdralag (cursing), glimustaoa (rushing an opponent's weapon belt), stigandi (a special combat stance), strandhugg (the viking raid), and svinfylka (boar snout maneuver)
* Five new spells
* 60 runes for use with the vitki and skalds (bards) -- runecasting!
* 25 herbs for use with the leech (in a Norse campaign, there's no healing clerics, leeches are it)
* 38 deities for a godi to choose from

ICE AGE SECTION
=============
3 new prestige classes
3 new armor
20 new weapons
2 new magic items
1 new special material
7 new monsters
7 new feats
10 new spells
10 new gods
3 campaign hooks

You can read more at http://mortality.net/board/read.php?TID=3534&page=1

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yeah, environmental books are hardly a new niche, and they're not too tough to get right....Bastion's got a series that I even got published in (yay!).

 

[MrFilthyIke]

These are all pretty good sources, and I'm sure there are others I've forgotten. I'm a bit surprised that WotC is entering this arena, but I guess these *are* books that can be sold to players and DMs alike rather than just DMs, so I guess the market is big enough for their interest.

There ARE people who only buy "cannon" (ie WotC) books. I don't buy much 3rd party any more (still trying to dump alot of stuff bought in the first year of d20). Even though it may seem crowded, it will probably do well because a)as I said its "cannon" and b)I can find WotC and WW books on bookselves even in Borders/Barnes&Nobles chains, what about 3rd party publishers?

 

[Grazzt]

and b)I can find WotC and WW books on bookselves even in Borders/Barnes&Nobles chains, what about 3rd party publishers?

You can find SSS (and as a result of that, Necromancer Games stuff too) in chain stores like that (because of White Wolf).

 

[DaveMage]

There ARE people who only buy "cannon" (ie WotC) books. I don't buy much 3rd party any more (still trying to dump alot of stuff bought in the first year of d20). Even though it may seem crowded, it will probably do well because a)as I said its "cannon" and b)I can find WotC and WW books on bookselves even in Borders/Barnes&Nobles chains, what about 3rd party publishers?

That's a good point, and I agree it will do well when compared to third-party publishers, but I thought that WotC created the d20 license in part so that other companies could produce these kinds of books while WotC focused on more core products. *shrug*

(But, then, that begs the question "what is a core product?" - to which only WotC has to answer for themselves.)

Works either way for me. I like the third party stuff I listed above and I like WotC products.

 

[Kesh]

Nice, talien. Thanks for the listing!

Personally, I'm going to pick up Frost & Fur. It sounds like it has plenty of things I can use, and it has OGL material. I'd be shocked if Frostburn is OGL at all, which means anything in that book would be impossible to put in my campaigns etting if I'm going to publish it online.

I may still pick up Frostburn just to see it, but as soon as my tax return comes in, you can bet I'm getting F&F.

 

[JPL]

I might pick this up.

About twelve years back, in one of the first Dragons I ever bought, there was an article on the ecology of the rehmorraz. It was set up as a discussion between a sage and his fighter buddy, apparently the only adventurer-types in a frozen outpost town.

For some reason, that's always stuck with me, and I've always thought it would be cool to do a campaign up in the Northlands, where a handful of adventurers had to protect the town against iceworms, frost giants, white dragons, and the like.

 

[johnsemlak]

Any speculation on what the future products in the series will be?

I'm guessing some of the following the following

A desert book
A Forest book
A Jungle/Swamp book
A Mountain book
Not sure about an ocean/undersea book. Not to many people game underwater.

A am a bit surprised they're releasing this a series. An all-in-one product like the WSG seemed more likely.

 

[Arnwyn]

Thoughts?

*cough*Wilderness Survival Guide*cough*

 

[Chroma]

Anyone remember these articles? Almost seems like test work for "enviroments".

Far Corners of the World

Wonder if any of the stuff from the articles will show up in the books.