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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Irrisen—Land of Eternal Winter (PFRPG)

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Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Irrisen—Land of Eternal Winter (PFRPG)
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Far to the north lies a realm that the seasons never touch, where snow lies heavy on the ground all year and winter never releases its icy grip. A country ruled by White Witches with hearts as cold as the north wind—the daughters of the Queen of Witches herself, Baba Yaga—and supported on the backs of a conquered, enslaved people. A place where frost giants and hateful fey are respected citizens, and winter wolves stalk the streets in human form. This is the nation of Irrisen, a land cloaked in unceasing winter for 1,400 years.

Irrisen, Land of Eternal Winter presents a comprehensive overview of this frigid kingdom, where the imperious control of the ruling class stifles the residents just as strongly as the harsh, never-ending winter.

Inside this book, you'll find:

  • A detailed exploration of the nation of Irrisen, from the icy fey stronghold of Feyfrost to the frozen forest of Hoarwood, including an extensive timeline of Irrisen's history and notes on traditional Irriseni holidays.
  • Detailed maps of Irrisen's six provinces and half a dozen of its most important towns and cities, from Queen Elvanna's capital of Whitethrone to the industrial town of Morozny.
  • Complete stat blocks for each of Irrisen's provinces and their capitals, detailing major settlements and notable denizens.
  • Numerous sites and events where adventure can be found, as well as hazards and afflictions that threaten visitors to these snowy lands.
  • A bestiary of new monsters and NPCs from Irrisen, such as Baba Yaga's Three Riders, the boreal creature template, and sample winter witches.

Irrisen, Land of Eternal Winter is intended for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and Pathfinder campaign setting, but can easily be used in any fantasy game setting.

By Mike Shel

ISBN-13: 978-1-60125-486-3

Other Resources: This product is also available on the following platforms:

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Fantasy Grounds Virtual Tabletop
Archives of Nethys

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Super . . . COOL!

5/5 —

The subtitle to this book in Pathfinder's Campaign Setting line immediately sums up the essence of Irrisen: it's a place of perpetual winter. Cursed by the witch Baba Yaga, Irrisen is a foreboding land ruled by witch-queens placed upon the throne by Baba Yaga herself and even the cities are full of dangerous, intelligent monsters like winter wolves, frost giants, ice trolls, and more. The peasantry are governed with strict rules and prohibited from leaving Irrisen for more inviting places, and even merchants and adventurers who travel to Irrisen from elsewhere do so at their own risk. Irrisen isn't an easy place to live, because if the weather doesn't kill you the inhabitants very well might. Although released to support the Reign of Winter adventure path (which takes place in Irrisen), this book works very well as a standalone source-book for GMs wanting to set other campaigns in the nation. The inside front cover of this 64-page book features a map of Irrisen, showing how it's been divided into six different provinces, each ruled by a different winter witch Jadwiga (descendant of Baba Yaga and of Irrisen's first queen).

The first six pages of the book give an introduction to Irrisen and a history of its centuries-long rule by the winter witches. Unlike some histories of fictional lands, this one is quite interesting and has on-going resonance for the "present day" state of the setting.

Next, the bulk of the book is devoted to a full summary of each of the six provinces, including their ruler, major cities, and other locations of note. Each province receive six pages of coverage, and includes a map of the province, a map of the province's capital, and a picture of a notable NPC. I won't go through the six provinces as they all share a common overall theme, but I will say I very much appreciated that a lot of work was put into making the descriptions full of adventuring hooks for a GM to exploit. Sometimes even the best GMs need inspiration, and it's much more interesting to read a source-book like this if its relevance to actual game-play is clear from the outset.

After the provinces, a six-page "Plots and Perils" section provides more detail on some particular places for adventure and potential storylines to involve the PCs. Using any of these would still require a lot of work by a GM, but there's enough to plant the seeds for several adventures. There's also a few new afflictions (curses and diseases) and some supernatural weather hazards.

Last, there's an extensive bestiary that includes random encounter tables for each of the provinces. I like random encounter tables, but what's missing from these is how often an encounter should take place. In addition, the vast range of CRs on the very same table (one table ranges from CR 2 to CR 17) are such that actually randomly rolling up encounters is likely to result in something either laughably easy or an instant TPK. This reduces the usefulness of the tables substantially, though they can still serve as a list of possible threats for a GM to pick from. The rest of the bestiary is quite solid. One of the really interesting features of Irrisen is that every century, Baba Yaga returns to take the current queen with her and installs a new queen on the throne; this occurrence is presaged by the appearance of the Three Riders, who pass judgment on Irrisen's inhabitants, from the lowliest peasants to the most wealthy winter witch. Each of the Three Riders receives a full page entry. After this, a new template ("Boreal") is created to make it easy to add winter flavour to any ordinary monster, and example stat-blocks of Boreal wolves, Boreal manticores, and Boreal annis hags are provided. Other new monsters include the guardians of Irrisen's borders (Sentinel Huts and Guardian Dolls), a dragon called a Khala, a giant called a Ved, and NPC stat blocks for a standard winter witch baroness and a winter witch "Cold Sister" (the land's inquisitors). Of the campaign setting books I've read so far, this one has by far the best and most useful bestiary.

The artwork in Irrisen, Land of Eternal Winter is uniformly excellent. Although I think I would have preferred to see more variation from province to province, I could definitely imagine setting an entire campaign in Irrisen and using this book as my primary resource for dozens of sessions of adventure. When your players have had it too easy for too long, send their characters to Irrisen--that should shake things up!

In Soviet Russia, Hut Dances You!

5/5 —

So, this book is 1 page cover, 1 page credits... hell, I'll never be an Endzeitgeist :/

OK so here it is, the campaign setting sourcebook on the "Grimm Fairy Tale Russia with Witches, Dancing Huts and a Truckload of Fey" region of Irrisen. (Incidentally, if you're looking for the less magical analogue of medieval Slavic lands, you should be looking for Brevoy. Now shoo, before the Witch sees you.)

Campaign setting books from Paizo are usually of the stellar writing quality (seriously, I'm hard pressed to find one I didn't enjoy) occasionally marred by some oddities such as cartography or lack of statblocks.

The writer here is Mike Shel who did prove his chops with Isles of the Shackles, which was unlucky enough to suffer a letdown or two in the maps department.

Fortunately, this one doesn't. There's plentiful of excellent cartography, both regional and city level. We also get a complete gazetteer of Irrisien, city statblocks, plot hooks and new monsters. The writing is vivid and captures the Icy Realm of Dark Fey feel perfectly. There are oodles of adventure ideas and intriguing locales which coupled with a solid amount of cold hard maps and statblocks makes this book a joy for any GM. Some of the slavic names can be real tongue twisters for our dear Anglo-Saxon readers but I'm sure they can deal with names such as "Chrzaszcz" (just kidding, this one doesn't turn up. But I wish it would).

The layout is nicely ... blue. I really like the shade. It would perhaps make me feel chilly if it wasn't for -15 Celcius we have over here as I write these words so I think it's time to quit while I'm ahead and my fingers aren't frozen yet. Hey, where' my vodka bottle?

Great book, you won't be disappointed! Five frozen fingers of approval from a Slav here.

Excellent book!

5/5 —

Read my full review on my blog.

Irrisen, Land of Eternal Winter is a fabulous book, jam-packed with information that will bring alive any campaign set in the region. Even campaigns set near Irrisen will benefit heavily from the information in this book as the White Witches provide great villains for games set in the Linnorm Kingdoms or the Realm of the Mammoth Lords. It’s full of endless fascinating characters, plots, and locations that I’m dying to use in some future campaign set in and around Irrisen. I highly recommend it.

Perfect Companion...

5/5 —

for The Land of the Linnorm Kings book as well as a must have for The Witchwar Legacy and Reign of Winter AP.

This is the kind of book as a GM and gaming fanatic that I purchase! It is full of so much cool information about the Witches and the Northlands! Great job Paizo!

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Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Announced! Cover image is a mockup, and will change prior to publication.
Grand Lodge

Present and accounted for woohoo!!!! I see winter witch in the makings.
Silver Crusade
3 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

This is one of those mockups that I wouldn't mind seeing on the real cover :-)
Grand Lodge

+1 to what Dudemeister said...
Paizo Employee Creative Director

That's cool, because that image has already been used as a cover for part 3 of the Jade Regent Adventure Path! :-)
Grand Lodge

Just in time for my Birthday!!!
1 person marked this as a favorite.

Whelp, next ap confirmed?
Dark Archive
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber

Super cool I flat can not wait for this one. This is the one country not covered I was most hoping for. Is it December yet?

freaking sweet
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative
Cheapy wrote:
Whelp, next ap confirmed?

The only thing that is confirmed is that this book in the Campaign Setting line covers the nation of Irrisen.

After Frostburn, I'm eager to see how this one ends up.
Paizo Employee Director of Narrative

This book is going to be more like Lands of the Linnorm Kings (or any of our nation books, for that matter) than it would be like a hardcover rule book.
1 person marked this as a favorite.
Adam Daigle wrote:
This book is going to be more like Lands of the Linnorm Kings (or any of our nation books, for that matter) than it would be like a hardcover rule book.

Of course. But I'm still interested in seeing how a certain creative director who is closely related to a certain author of Frostburn shapes an entire nation dedicated to winter. With Shel's work too :)

Ugh. If only this book had come out two years ago, I would SO have needed to have this!

Boy, do I miss the days when Paizo books were on the top of my wish list!

Sorry. I needed to vent.
Grand Lodge
Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

This seems interesting. Ever since I got the description of Irrisen from Cities of Golarion I've been wanting more details on this strangely Russian-like land. All things considered though, I wonder what this implies...all of the Campaign Setting 64-page country books have, without fail (except for the city-specific ones, that is) touched upon AP that have been released alongside them, which, if true, means exciting things indeed. Ah, the cold north, how i love thee...

I like this, for sure

I do wish they would do another setting book about a specific locale like Darkmoon Vale

That was a great book.

Hopefully this one will have as many monsters and Isles of the Shackles book.
Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer
The Drunken Dragon wrote:
Ever since I got the description of Irrisen from Cities of Golarion I've been wanting more details on this strangely Russian-like land.

Have you had a look at Winter Witch?

Vic Wertz wrote:
The Drunken Dragon wrote:
Ever since I got the description of Irrisen from Cities of Golarion I've been wanting more details on this strangely Russian-like land.
Have you had a look at Winter Witch?

Winter Witch is a freaking great book,

with a few great plot twists, I do recommend it.
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Superscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber
Adam Daigle wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
Whelp, next ap confirmed?
The only thing that is confirmed is that this book in the Campaign Setting line covers the nation of Irrisen.

I will take that as a cofirmation..

Silver Crusade
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I hope this is more hints toward the "inevitable" Jim Groves Vikings vs Witches AP!

Jim Groves wrote:
Justin Franklin wrote:
Ravenmantle wrote:
Nah, this summer's all about Worldwound/Mendev announcements (I hope!) That said, an Irrisen/Linnorm Kingdoms adventure path would be awesome.
Well they are going to announce 2, one at PaizoCon and one at GenCon.

2013 Season of the Witch!

Screw the ninjas. Vikings versus Witches! Blackravens on red alert! Support your local ice troll! Don't kid yourself, they're gonna frackin tear up the border along the Iceflow river!

Grandmother Winter is on a timetable, boys and girls. The jadwiga Elvanna know it, the ulfen know it, and anybody with 5 ranks of Knowledge (history) knows it!

Elvanna has already tested the waters of rebellion by (spoilers from the Witchwar Legacy) ** spoiler omitted **

The Linnorm Kings got calenders, they know what year it is!

Back in the early days of the Winter War, the ulfen traded kids for First World warriors and weapons! (Pathfinder Chronicles: Lands of the Linnorm Kings)

You got the rest of the jadwiga Elvanna making their own creepy plans, like Lady Tetra and her Iron Tooth project which looks suspicious like some kind of artifact doomsday bunker to hold over 1,000 people! (Cities of Golarion)

There's so many kick ass plotlines going on in and around Irrisen you can't shake a stick at all of them. This is the makings of a great AP.

Not to mention that the Artifacts and Legends book has a version of the Dancing Hut coming! Whoohoo!

I like Distant Worlds and Numeria too, but this is full of awesome, and I would be delighted to support those ideas AFTER an Irrisen AP.

NOTE: None of this comes from insider knowledge, just...

YESSSSSSSS

Yay! More Northern love!
4 people marked this as a favorite.

Winter is coming :)

Count me in.

What I find odd, though, is that we get a Northlands book covering the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Irrisen and the Mammoth Lords, too. Seems to me that there is a bit of an overlap.
Fabius Maximus wrote:

Count me in.

What I find odd, though, is that we get a Northlands book covering the Lands of the Linnorm Kings, Irrisen and the Mammoth Lords, too. Seems to me that there is a bit of an overlap.

That is a player options book. Archetypes, details on the races,equipmtent, traits, etc...

This is a gazetteer like Lands of the Linnorm Kings.

The more northern goodness, the better I say.

I also want a full Iobaria gazetteer... doubtful that one will happen though. I would also love to see a map that includes the tundra between the northern nations and the Crown of the World.

Ah, thanks. That detail escaped me.
Shadow Lodge
Justin Franklin wrote:
Adam Daigle wrote:
Cheapy wrote:
Whelp, next ap confirmed?
The only thing that is confirmed is that this book in the Campaign Setting line covers the nation of Irrisen.
I will take that as a cofirmation..

I'll second that :-)

Dark Archive

Funny I was just yesterday looking through Vic's posts on his page for all the new product announcements, and was particularly wondering if this very product would be part of said announcements.

With Paizo Con around the corner, and the AP after Shattered Star coming to light, can we dare dream that Baba Yaga, her brood, and Dancing Hut are just over the frozen capped horizon?
Silver Crusade
Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I guess that Irrisen AP is pretty much 100% certain at this point!

Aww hells yeah.
Dragon78 wrote:
Hopefully this one will have as many monsters and Isles of the Shackles book.

It promises a host of new icy monsters, so I hope that is evidence it will have a big super-long bestiary like the Shackles book

Yes! I love some winter theme and Irrisen as well. Is it December yet?
knightnday wrote:
Yes! I love some winter theme and Irrisen as well. Is it December yet?

No. But winter is coming. ;)

Heh. I wonder if Paizo deliberately planned that month for this book's release. After all, in Irrisen, it's always winter, but never reaches Kuthona 25th.

(And although I was obviously kidding in that last sentence, I DO genuinely wonder if the December release date was chosen for that reason.)
2 people marked this as a favorite.

[Alan Rickman] And cancel Christmas! [/Alan Rickman]
Dark Archive

Yes! Finally! Thank you!
Contributor
MMCJawa wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Hopefully this one will have as many monsters and Isles of the Shackles book.
It promises a host of new icy monsters, so I hope that is evidence it will have a big super-long bestiary like the Shackles book

I'll have a good sized one. It might not be as super sized, though. We've got lots of creepy locations and wintery dangers to cram in here.

Hope you're all brushing up on your Slavic mythology though!
Dark Archive
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
MMCJawa wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Hopefully this one will have as many monsters and Isles of the Shackles book.
It promises a host of new icy monsters, so I hope that is evidence it will have a big super-long bestiary like the Shackles book

I'll have a good sized one. It might not be as super sized, though. We've got lots of creepy locations and wintery dangers to cram in here.

Hope you're all brushing up on your Slavic mythology though!

As a Slav, I salute Slavic mythology! :) Although, be advised that there are Slavs and Slavs. What I want to say is that Eastern Slavs, such as Russians and Ukrainians have a different low-level demons than Southern Slavs, such as Serbs and Croats. For instance, Russians have Domovoy, a bath house demon, Croats have Domaći, a sort of Brownie-like being, and Serbs have Dragons, who are anthropomorphic. Also, vampires are very different in various mythologies. I could go on, but I suppose there is no need, right? :)

Sovereign Court
baron arem heshvaun wrote:

Funny I was just yesterday looking through Vic's posts on his page for all the new product announcements, and was particularly wondering if this very product would be part of said announcements.

With Paizo Con around the corner, and the AP after Shattered Star coming to light, can we dare dream that Baba Yaga, her brood, and Dancing Hut are just over the frozen capped horizon?

Where is this?

GeraintElberion wrote:
baron arem heshvaun wrote:

Funny I was just yesterday looking through Vic's posts on his page for all the new product announcements, and was particularly wondering if this very product would be part of said announcements.

With Paizo Con around the corner, and the AP after Shattered Star coming to light, can we dare dream that Baba Yaga, her brood, and Dancing Hut are just over the frozen capped horizon?

Where is this?

This one?

nightflier wrote:
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
MMCJawa wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Hopefully this one will have as many monsters and Isles of the Shackles book.
It promises a host of new icy monsters, so I hope that is evidence it will have a big super-long bestiary like the Shackles book

I'll have a good sized one. It might not be as super sized, though. We've got lots of creepy locations and wintery dangers to cram in here.

Hope you're all brushing up on your Slavic mythology though!

As a Slav, I salute Slavic mythology! :) Although, be advised that there are Slavs and Slavs. What I want to say is that Eastern Slavs, such as Russians and Ukrainians have a different low-level demons than Southern Slavs, such as Serbs and Croats. For instance, Russians have Domovoy, a bath house demon, Croats have Domaći, a sort of Brownie-like being, and Serbs have Dragons, who are anthropomorphic. Also, vampires are very different in various mythologies. I could go on, but I suppose there is no need, right? :)

Agree, Slavic mythology should be used much more in the game, that's why Midgard is one of my favorite worlds.

Shadow Lodge

I'm guessing this will have a reprint of the Winter Witch archetype from Inner Sea Magic?
nightflier wrote:
F. Wesley Schneider wrote:
MMCJawa wrote:
Dragon78 wrote:
Hopefully this one will have as many monsters and Isles of the Shackles book.
It promises a host of new icy monsters, so I hope that is evidence it will have a big super-long bestiary like the Shackles book

I'll have a good sized one. It might not be as super sized, though. We've got lots of creepy locations and wintery dangers to cram in here.

Hope you're all brushing up on your Slavic mythology though!

As a Slav, I salute Slavic mythology! :) Although, be advised that there are Slavs and Slavs. What I want to say is that Eastern Slavs, such as Russians and Ukrainians have a different low-level demons than Southern Slavs, such as Serbs and Croats. For instance, Russians have Domovoy, a bath house demon, Croats have Domaći, a sort of Brownie-like being, and Serbs have Dragons, who are anthropomorphic. Also, vampires are very different in various mythologies. I could go on, but I suppose there is no need, right? :)

Yay for more Slavic mythology! I'm more of a Brevoy/River Kingdom/Kingmaker guy myself, and that area uses a lot of Slavic history and myth in the sense of pre-Tatar Yoke Russia vibe, so this will be very useful to me.

And Serbs have anthropomorphic dragons? Is there anything online in English covering this? I'd love to see it.

And OT but am I wrong or are there 'Western Slavs' in the sense of being the Poles?
Ninjaxenomorph wrote:
I'm guessing this will have a reprint of the Winter Witch archetype from Inner Sea Magic?

Why would it? This is a gazetteer, not a player companion. None of the gazetteers have player options.

Man, Irrisen and Mike Shel? His work is gold standard. This is fantastic news, whether or not Irrisen is featured in the next year's APs.

All hail Baba Yaga!
Dark Archive

I highly support this book (as it's the region, excluding other planes and planets, that I've been most hoping gets a gazetteer) and the likely AP!

"Winter is coming..."
"Nay, it is already here!"
(ba dum tss)
Eric Hinkle wrote:
nightflier wrote:

As a Slav, I salute Slavic mythology! :) Although, be advised that there are Slavs and Slavs. What I want to say is that Eastern Slavs, such as Russians and Ukrainians have a different low-level demons than Southern Slavs, such as Serbs and Croats. For instance, Russians have Domovoy, a bath house demon, Croats have Domaći, a sort of Brownie-like being, and Serbs have Dragons, who are anthropomorphic. Also, vampires are very different in various mythologies. I could go on, but I suppose there is no need, right? :)

Yay for more Slavic mythology! I'm more of a Brevoy/River Kingdom/Kingmaker guy myself, and that area uses a lot of Slavic history and myth in the sense of pre-Tatar Yoke Russia vibe, so this will be very useful to me.

And Serbs have anthropomorphic dragons? Is there anything online in English covering this? I'd love to see it.

Seconding the plea for some links to online Slavic mythology material! The more I hear about the Slavic mythos, the more badass it seems -- also, reading loose source material before getting into the meat of a gaming product is a personal obsession. :D

1 person marked this as a favorite.

they have slavic stuff too now, wonder when there will be a culture or realm based on hungarian myths and legends
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