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This game is my jam. I am at work, but will write you a more in depth review and answer your questions tonight. Literally any questions you have list them and il answer.

Easy E wrote:I saw the title, and immediately thought is was the batsignal for Lance!

It was! haha

Flapjack wrote:Hello,

I am considering buying the core box but I have no experience with roleplay games. I have the core D&D books but haven't played it. In Forbidden Lands you don't play as a great hero, more like an adventurer of even raider from what i have read.

It looks like a light game to me, is this something anyone can recommend to me? I'm hoping running a few sessions of this will prepare me to later on run a larger D&D campaign.

The other reason I'm thinking of buying it is maybe I can use the books and prepared adventures and encounters as inspiration for later.

So, can anyone help me out with their opinions on this game?

Cheers!

Okay.

So, the core box is a great value in general. For you and anyone else who gives a gak the core box costs about 50 USD and comes with 2 faux leather books (the GM book and the PHB) a booklet for creating characters with a life path and generating new monsters, a map of the area the base game takes place in for hex crawling and a pack of stickers to mark the map with major locations as they are discovered. The locations are not fixed. They can go where ever the GM decides to place them, though there are places that make more sense than others when you read about the "adventure sites".

On top of that, the game includes some of the best content generation tables I have ever seen.

Just a brief example. This ( https://drive.google.com/file/d/12maZaMGprQQTfQ0-r0oUGWgeeXxOKnir/view?usp=sharing ) is page 2 of about 6 for generating a dungeon.

Now, as far as what players play as. It is more Conan than Lord of the Rings. But that doesn't mean people can't be heroes and whatever. Just that the game as presented with the setting is presented more as rogues and raiders. The setting is semi post apocalyptic in that 300 years ago a major event covered the titular Forbidden Lands in a thing called the Blood Mist. People who enter the Blood Mist tend to either never be seen again, end up dead, or worse.. survive. It mostly comes at night... Mostly (reference intended). And it cut off wide spread travel for about 300 years. At the time the game picks up the Blood Mist has just disappeared in the last few years and people are starting to tentatively travel around again. Communities have been isolated for generations. Ruins abound. Treasure that predate the Blood Mist are waiting to be found. But not just for you, the Forbidden Lands is a dangerous place.

It is pretty light on the rules and pretty easy to run and play. But I would argue that this is a great place to run a larger campaign as well. It is a lot easier for players to die in FBL than it is in DnD. But thats most games. DnD is really built around the players surviving for the most part. FBL can have players get worn down and broken if they just run around picking fights with everyone and everything. In my opinion this grounds it more and helps the players to play people instead of caricatures. There is a joke about DnD characters being "Murder Hobos" They have no fixed address and solve all their problems with violence. In FBL that kind of gak is going to get you hunted down and killed.


Now some of the rougher stuff. Being new to RPGs in general and especially running a game the hex crawl aspect might take you some preparation or getting used to. It's just different from what some people expect and requires the GM to prepare some quick reference materials so it doesn't slow down the game at the table. It's not REALLY a bad thing. It's just something to be aware of. Secondly, the magic system can be brutal. In that it's very dangerous. With a simple die roll a caster could over step and end up rolling on a critical table called the magic mishaps. Now on the low end of this is a simple increase in reputation (people are aware of you and might recognize you as you gain infamy. Whether that is a good or bad thing depends on who you meet and what your known for). But on the other end of the spectrum you tear open a hole to hell and your character gets pulled in and you make a new character. The GM might have the character come back later but now an NPC and... changed. Personally I have house ruled some of the magic stuff to work a little more to my liking, but in general it's again not really a bad thing But expectations need to be set. If a player is like "I'm gunna be a sorcerer and throw fireballs and call lightning!", no they won't. Those kinds of spells are rare if not non existent and if you run around doing that your likely to end up in hell eventually. It's again, more Conan. Where Thulsa Doom is a big strong man who fights with a giant sword and turns things into snakes. But in reality thats also Lord of the Rings. Gandalf mostly fights with a sword and created bright lights. He does almost no fireballs or lightning. Again, the expectations just need to be set from the beginning in your session zero. Prevent the potential disappointment by laying it all out from the get go.



All in all I think the game is great. It's simple and fast and easy to pick up and start playing. The content generation tools are fantastic. If you decide to run the main story buy the Raven's Purge book with it and you could stretch out that story over months or years depending on how you plant the seeds for the story and/or how the players decide to interact with it. There is a lot of compelling stuff right in the core box at a honestly screaming deal for the price tag. If you want the same core systems with a sci fi flavor look up Alien or Coriolis by the same company (Free League).

I have run the game a few times. If you are looking to DM I can share some resources I made to help me GM easier (I do this for pretty much every game. FBL isn't an exception).

Again, I highly recommend you pick up Raven's Purge if you plan on running it. It fills out a lot more details in the Ravenlands and runs through a major story arc for the area.

If you are interested I can fill you in on some of the house rules/tweaks I make. Your choice if you use any of it of course.

As for lore the players should know. You can give them broad strokes of religions and history. Since those are thing the people in the Ravenlands would be passing down. The game comes with some legends (and each book adds more). At the start of the game I gave every player 3 + their lore skill legends. Some I randomly selected and some I chose based on backstories for their characters or plot threads I wanted to plant. An item one guy was looking for. A place I wanted them to go looking for at some point. A some major players in the world. etc etc..

 Flapjack wrote:
Thanks guys!

Lance, your house rules, tweaks and resources will be most welcome. As a new GM, any help I can get is greatly appreciated.

Just a start: I allow players to buy into the other professions talents using the rules for buying magic talents. The cost is 3x the normal cost unless they have someone to teach them. Buying into other profession magic talents doubles up. It's 3x the cost with a teacher and 6x the cost without. I don't like players being restricted into a "box" because of a class choice. People can learn other things. It's just harder and costs more.

Raven's purge sounds like a great addition is seems. However, I'm going to test the waters first, see how the core game plays out. Is Raven's purge something I can add later on in a campaign? Before I go big and buy the extra books I'd like to see if my group likes this game. I'd hate to have half a shelf worth of books just gathering dust.

It is, but the more of the map they explore before you introduce it the harder it's going to be for you to place the locations in the Raven's Purge book. Doing a couple sessions and running around the Hollow's is going to be fine to test the waters.

Personally I start a new game with players by doing whats called a cold opening. It's like when you watch a show like the X files and before the theme plays you see the characters mid investigation on something else. So I start the players in a hex 2-3 away from the hollows as they find an old hideout of bandits. They were sold a map by descendants of one of the bandits who have no interest in going looking for it as they have settled into their community over the last couple hundred years with the blood mist and all. I stick a troll or 2 in there, use it as a chance for them to get a little bit of loot and gold, and then point out the hollows as a place to go spend their spoils and sell their unwanted loot. This also allows the players to experience the travel rules in a light way as an introduction. It's all very soft tutorially. Here is a place. get used to make dice rolls. Here is a combat. Exciting right! Here is some loot, rewards! Learn about travel. Time for NPCs, learn about role playing. What they do from there is their choice, but by the time they are done with the hollows they have learned enough about the game to make those choices.

Same question for the special dice and cards. I think the cards are just something extra. Do I really need multiple fancy and expensive dice sets especially made for this game? I have a lot of d6 and some sets for D&D a friend gifted me.

The cards are great, the dice are not. I buy 3 cubes of different colored chessex mini d6s. You get enough dice for 5 players at the table to all have their own pile. You will need to pick up a few d8s, d10s, and d12s which a lot of stores will sell individually. It's WAY less expensive than the official fancy dice and you get enough for everyone. The official set doesn't even really have enough for a single person.

I'll inform the players of the lire in broad lines. As for legends, I think I'll hold them secret at the start, to be shared with the party later on one by one by suitable NPC's

Momotaro, I was actually planning on creating some starting adventures, NPC's, enemies and monsters and even some small worldbuilding near the starting location. I wanted to get started on this tomorrow. Got some nifty ideas already. Might as well create some homebrew simple magic items and such too.

Great ideas on how to teach them, and myself, the travel system. This system does allow for some serious travel adventuring, the tools in the book are a great help with this.

Regarding resources such as food, I was thinking of just tweaking this system. Let's say you roll up d6 food resources. I think I can get away with stating this is the amount of portions this is. So let's say a roll of 4, is just 4 portions of food. I believe this will be much easier to keep track of for player and GM alike. Is this doable or am I missing some other essential rules here?

I love the stronghold rules in this system! This offers so much possibilities later on in the game.

- editing because i punched submit to early-

The nice thing about FBLs resource system is you don't need to keep track of individual units. In DnD and other games it's "I have x amount of water which means I need to find more in x number of days." Having a d10 rolling it when you take your daily ration means you don't need to keep changing the number every. single. time. you use it. Only when it rolls low and gets reduced. The best place to see where this is advantageous is torches and arrows. Does a character have 20 arrows and can only shoot their bow 20 times? Or do they have a d12 arrows and at the end of the fight they roll to see if it drops to a d10? There is far less micro management in the system as presented in the book.

 Flapjack wrote:


Raven's purge and the cards will be next on my list then, right after the first few sessions of course. I have seen there are other campaign books as well. have you, or ayone else, tried them? As far as I understand, only Raven's Purge is somewhat essential then?

There is one campaign book. The Bitter Reach adds an area to the north of the Raven Lands and is kind of a combined setting information from the GMG + Ravens Purge for that area. There is a map/stickers pack for that area as well. It also adds the Champion Profession (think classic Paladin except that your not a champion of a god per se, you could be a champion of a local lord, or a bandit organization, or whatever. The point being that you are a devoted warrior regardless of what you are devoted too) and 2 new spell disciplines (elemental magic for Sorcerers and Ice Affinity for Druids).

The other 2 books, (Crypt of the Mellified Mage and Spire of Quatzel) are little books for 4 unconnected adventure sites that can be placed anywhere written by guest writters. These were bonuses from the kickstarters for the first game and bitter reach.


They recently ran, and concluded, a kickstarter for the 3rd location. The Blood March is to the west and it's second book was a new faux leather hardcover called the book of beasts. Those will all probably hit shelves next year some time. Book of beasts is like a new monster manual with some extra stuff.

@Flapjack I sent you a PM.

Also, here is another house rule I use.

If you have read up on the combat system you will understand that there are very strict limitations on what players can and cannot do. And some of your actions are also needed for defending.

I sort of loosen it up a bit with a soft cap instead of a hard cap.

As it stands the players can do:
1 slow action + 1 fast action
or
2 fast actions

What I do is:
1 slow action + 1 fast action
or
2 fast actions

Each additional action they attempt in the same game turn has a cumulative penalty. Slow -2, fast -1.

If at any point you fail to get any successes on a roll you are done. No more actions until the next game turn.

You can only Run twice in a single turn.

It lets people keep defending or pushing themselves but makes things harder and harder so they can be broken under a flurry of blows.

 Orlanth wrote:
I have my own take on this game.

I rather like it but....

Multi-classing & cross profession skills

Spoiler:

For other professions I apply the following rule.
You can have s many cross path talents as you have base class talents and they can rise to one level less than your highest base class talent.

So get to level 2 in a profession talent before trying to multiclass and recognise you can never master them, except when you fully multi-class (see below).

Professional talents that remain unused, I don't use battle cards so do not use Path of the Enemy, so my Fighters get a phantom two ranks in that talent, no more no less for the purpose of eligibility of cross classing.

I do not charge extra but you can only have a maximum of three cross class talent at a maximum of level two. That is restricted enough, and you need to cover all bases for eligibility, not one or other.
So for normal professional talents you must use the skill in the presence of a teacher, who then corrects young grasshopper into how to be a better what you are not. For magical talents you need to jump though both hoops, formal training and triple cost.
Also finally skill ups with a trainer of any kind take a full day, and cross class magic for a non magic user character class takes longer, normally 'rest of season' and happens in inter season downtime.

There are no formal restrictions beyond that, if you buy all three talents from a single cross profession (and thus use ALL your eligibility for foreign talents) then as soon as you hit rank 1 in the third talent you fully become that character class and your character is totally multiclassed and all above restrictions, excepting the full day for formal training, fall off.

Didn't I mention that trainers will want to be paid....

Neat idea. It has more meta gaming mechanics for my taste but I think it's fully functional and that could easily be to others tastes.

Miscasts

Spoiler:

The Magic Mishap system reminds me of WHFB 8th where you roll two dice on Nehek for your general get a double six and get eaten by Khorne. I like the system from 9th Age where the amount of dice in a miscast limit, or expand it as appropriate.

Here are my house rules.

Cautious casting,
If you want to use your skill to lower the dice total in a spall cast you must take a slow action to cast, if already a slow action it takes a full round action. Rituals are not effected.

Miscast Mitigation.
For every rank in a skill you possess in a magical talent you may ignore one skull/1 rolled. This is not per casting but renewed only on a full rest.
This is automatic any any deductions are removed wanted or not, (see below).

Minor Mishap
If you roll only one skull/1 (after Miscast Mitigation) on a tier 1 or 2 spell, you roll on the Mishap table with advantage. This makes it unlikely you will be carried off by a demon for a bungled cantrip.


I keep everything else vanilla.

I have been working on my own magic system for this for awhile now. It's both a house rule to regular Forbidden Lands and possibly part of my own game I might put out some day as part of their OGL.

For mine,

Spells
-All spells have a skill check. Each WP you spend on a spell beyond the first either modifies the spell in ways that the spell details (Bind Magic) or adds +1 to the skill roll.
-If you push a spell, the skill dice gain banes and those banes give you corruption.
-Ingredients give you +1 to the roll.


Corruption
-Corruption comes as temporary corruption (which goes away over time or some other methods) and Permanent corruption which never goes away.
-If you ever fill your temp corruption 1 becomes permanent. When you gain a PC you roll on a modified mishaps table (now a corruption table). If PC is ever maxed you're dead and/or turned NPC as you go insane.
-Temp corruption can be used like Willpower, but every time you use TC as will power the dice roll is considered to already be pushed in terms of generating corruption.
-Permanent Corruption can be used like your Pride except you can add it to ANY roll and like TC the roll is now considered to already be pushed in terms of generating corruption.

Finally things in the world can give you TC. Certain demon attacks or substances (Mog). Certain corrupted locations will cause it over time.


It's kind of a mix of Rot in Mutant Year Zero, Corruption in Symbaroum, and the current magic system.

 Orlanth wrote:
I prefer your system, would like to design similar but didnt want to diverge from core rules too much by adding an extra stat. Though you should quantify the threshold for corruption.

Also when you gain permanent corruption does it reset the rest of the bar.

Finally does permanent corruption fill the bar from the other end thus making the bar shorter?

I am workshopping and testing 3 methods for max corruption. Either...

1) a fixed number 6 or 10.
2) Based on attributes. Probably equal to your highest attribute.
3) Based on attributes. Highest of Strength or Agility + Highest of Wits or Empathy. Though I am worried about adding even MORE value to Strength which is already the most valuable attribute.
SO 4) maybe the lowest of Strength or Agility + the lowest of Wits or Empathy?

Permanent Corruption does not reset the bar based on below. Without this it would have to reset the bar.

I was considering it being 1 bar where you fill with a diagonal / for Temp and turn one into an X when its permanent. This would make the slope into madness a slippery one. As you gain more PC it takes less and less to gain the next.

I have also considered having 2 bars. 1 temp 1 perm. And after a conversation I had last night I am leaning towards calling the temp Taint and the perm Corruption.

I had alternate methods that like your idea added extra mechanics to the character sheet, rather than my idea above which only changed existing effects.

I would like to see a Cautious Caster talent that provides a fail buffer against miscasts.

I would like to see fetishes or charms that mitigate miscasts, I envisage casters from this system as having a witch doctor/mojo vibe, with rattling necklaces of charms around the neck or their staff pointing out a sorcerer to everyone.

While mages in Forbidden Realms can be described as Gandalfs, who do a lot of lore but very little casting, I do find the Conan analogy more accurate, not classical wizards but mojo-men.

Yeah, thats why I was considering going full own game with it. Incorporating all my house rules into a my home brew setting and going that route. For instance, if I go the my own game route there will only be one caster profession. Then I will create a number of casting practices or disciplines and those will have different combinations of 3 spell talents as profession talents. Necromancers could have Death Magic, Healing, and Blood Magic. Actual Elementalists Elemental Magic, Stone Song, and Ice Affinity.

It would take more work and adjustments. I haven't gotten to a point where I am really digging through the spells and the disciplines yet but the broad idea is there.

Just finished updating my GM screen pages for Forbidden Lands (might need a proof reading update. But otherwise it's all there).

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17Mf1575CWXdZRuIe8YICP9jQe_VSqmCv?usp=sharing

Edit: Added Typical Cover armor values on pg 2.

4 horizontal pages I put into one of these...



World's Greatest GM Screen - Horizontal. Comes in all kinds of colors.

I made a character sheet.
2 versions.

1 accommodates my house rules, the other doesn't.

On the house rules one the 2 changes are the addition of the taint/corruption tracks and in the actions section feint uses a house rule.

Feint is Wits (Instead of strength) + Melee vs Insight. Must be followed up with an attack against the target. The attack has a modifier equal to the result of the Feint roll. (I.E. If the opponent wins by 2 successes you suffer a -2 because he see's your attack coming. If you win by 2 successes you get a +2 to your roll because you tripped him up.)

Base game character sheet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VRlGKOldkaxJ8YVFVMtw6TQAS7tOBbD5/view?usp=sharing

House Rules character sheet
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zvkTJkgharbRnGBYUBLg2e0bB_hUMsaK/view?usp=sharing