Savage Frontier is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons

Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...

campaign setting

Campaign setting

A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...

 Forgotten Realms

Forgotten Realms

The Forgotten Realms is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. Commonly referred to by players and game designers alike as "The Realms", it was created by game designer Ed Greenwood around 1967 as a setting for his childhood stories...

. It describes the Savage Frontier of Faerûn

Faerûn

Faerûn is a fictional subcontinent, the primary setting of the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms. It is described at a relatively high level in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting from Wizards of the Coast, and various locales and aspects are described in more detail by separate...

. The book was written by Paul Jaquays

Paul Jaquays

Paul Jaquays is a game designer and artist of table-top role-playing games and video games.Some of his notable works include the Dungeons & Dragons modules "Dark Tower" and "Caverns of Thracia" for Judges Guild; development and design of conversions on games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for...

. Cover art is by Larry Elmore

Larry Elmore

Larry Elmore is an American fantasy artist whose work includes creating illustrations for video games, comics, magazines and fantasy books. His list of work includes illustrations for Dungeons & Dragons, Dragonlance, and the comic strip series SnarfQuest...

, with interior illustrations by Esteban Maroto

Esteban Maroto

- Career :Born in Madrid, he began his career in the 1960s with series like Cinco por infinito, published in English by Continuity Comics as "Zero Patrol" ....

, and cartography by Dave Sutherland

David C. Sutherland III

David C. Sutherland III was an early Dungeons & Dragons artist. Sutherland was a prolific artist and his work heavily influenced the early development of Dungeons & Dragons.-Early life and inspiration:...

, Dennis Kauth, and Jaquays.

Contents

The Savage Frontier describes the lands north of the High Moors, the location of the novel The Crystal Shard, and the northern barbarians. The book focuses on the lands to the north of the City of Waterdeep

Waterdeep (city)

Waterdeep is a fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms. It is a port city that is located along the western coast of the Faerûn sub-continent...

. The color maps and text add further detail to the northlands and Trackless Sea. This campaign supplement contains information on the Northmen, the Uthgardt Barbarians, and the northern dwarves

Dwarf (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, dwarves are a humanoid race, one of the primary races available for play as player characters...

 and orcs

Orc (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, orcs are a primitive race of savage, bestial, barbaric humanoid.-Publication history:The orc was one of the earliest creatures introduced in the D&D game. The D&D orc is largely based upon the orcs appearing in the works of J.R.R...

. It provides information on major settlements, strongholds, and ruins, and includes numerous adventure ideas.

This is a 64-page booklet wrapped in a removable gatefold cover. The outside gatefold contains a map of the City of Waterdeep

Waterdeep (city)

Waterdeep is a fictional city-state that forms part of a popular Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game campaign setting called the Forgotten Realms. It is a port city that is located along the western coast of the Faerûn sub-continent...

, while the inside front cover has maps of the Ruins of Ascore, Grandfather Tree, Hellgate Keep, Luskan, and typical Uthgardt ancestor mounds. Included with the book are two fold-out color poster maps; one of the Savage Frontier region, and one of the Trackless Sea

Trackless Sea

-Description:The Trackless Sea is the name of the western ocean due west of the continent of Faerûn. The Trackless Sea runs from Faerûn in the west, to Maztica and Anchorome in the east, north to the Sea of Moving Ice and south to the peninsula of Chult....

. The book focuses on the region known as "The Savage Frontier", including an introduction to the Savage Frontier, and an overview of the region, as well as the peoples of the North, cities, towns, and villages found there, and geographic features such as the Sea, the Ice, and the Islands, the lost lands, strongholds, and ruins, rivers mountains, and rough lands, the High Forest, and Uthgardt ancestor mounds, as well as some personalities of the North. Four appendixes are featured, including magical items

Magic item (Dungeons & Dragons)

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, a magic item is any object that has magical powers inherent in it. These may act on their own or be the tools of the character in whose hands they fall into. Magic items have been prevalent in the game in every edition and setting, from the...

 of the Savage Frontier, northern proficiencies (skills useful in the region), news of the land, and adventures in the Savage Frontier.

Publication history

FR5 The Savage Frontier was written by Paul Jaquays

Paul Jaquays

Paul Jaquays is a game designer and artist of table-top role-playing games and video games.Some of his notable works include the Dungeons & Dragons modules "Dark Tower" and "Caverns of Thracia" for Judges Guild; development and design of conversions on games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong for...

 and published by TSR in 1988 as a 64-page booklet with a large color map and an outer folder.

Reception

Jim Bambra reviewed The Savage Frontier for Dragon

Dragon (magazine)

Dragon is one of the two official magazines for source material for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game and associated products, the other being Dungeon. TSR, Inc. originally launched the monthly printed magazine in 1976 to succeed the company's earlier publication, The Strategic Review. The...

magazine #144 (April 1989). Bambra felt that the color maps and text "place firmly in context the descriptions given in FR1 Waterdeep and the North

Waterdeep and the North

Waterdeep and the North is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting Forgotten Realms.-Contents:...

. He concluded: "This supplement is for anyone who can't resist the call of the wild."