7.8 /10 1 Votes7.8
3.6/5 Goodreads Originally published 1988 Publisher TSR | 4.2/5 DriveThruRPG Publication date 1988 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Michael A Stackpole books, Role-playing game books | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ribble crossing the northern reaches
The Northern Reaches is an accessory for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. The book describes the land known as the Northern Reaches, which lie on the eastern seaboard of the D&D game's Known World, also known as Mystara.
Contents
- Ribble crossing the northern reaches
- A paddle on the northern reaches
- Publication history
- Reception
- References
A paddle on the northern reaches
Contents
The guides Helfdan Halftroll, Onund Tolundmire, Saru the Serpent, and Dwalinn the Dwarf take the reader on a tour of the Northern Reaches. The accessory describes the three Viking-style lands of Ostland, Vestland, and Soderfjord. The thirty-two page Players Book gives an overview of the Northern Reaches, and contains rules for Northman characters, including optional rules for character personality traits. The sixty-four page DM Book contains the history, geography, nations and governments, rules, and nonhumans of the Northern Reaches, three scenarios, rules for adapting the setting to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, an epic campaign outline, and a new system of clerical magic: runes.
The gazetteer also includes a large color map and cardstock cutouts for constructing scale model Viking buildings. The complete 3-D card village can be assembled and used as the setting for two of the detailed adventures.
Publication history
GAZ7 The Northern Reaches was written by Ken Rolston and Elizabeth Danforth, with a cover by Clyde Caldwell and interior illustrations by Stephen Fabian, and was published by TSR in 1988 as a sixty-four page book, a thirty-two page book, four cardstock sheets, a large color map, and an outer folder.
Reception
Jim Bambra reviewed The Northern Reaches for Dragon magazine No. 143 (March 1989). He said that the book "introduces these cultures in a highly entertaining and informative manner", concluding, "With its solid role-playing excitement and easy to digest background, this Gazetteer belongs in every D&D game collection."
Lawrence Schick, in his 1991 book Heroic Worlds, felt that the gazetteer gave "an excellent feel for what the Norsemen were really like".