Category: Forbidden Lands

The Legend of Brightwater

Before the Bloodmist, a fearless warband was banished to the marshlands for a crime they definitely did commit. These men and women survived and thrived, their antecedents living in the village of Brightwater. Today, wanted by the Rust Brothers, they survive as heroes for hire. If you have a monster problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find Brightwater … maybe you can hire The Monster Hunters.

The village of Brightwater is not in the best part of the world. The lowland swampy surroundings of Brightwater is frequently flooded and all the houses are built on stilts. But they are well maintained, comfortable, not poor looking. And around the village, well fed, athletic men and women stride across narrow bridges with easy confidence.

There is a thriving market hall, where travelling traders visiting the village can set up their stalls alongside the village’s own craftspeople. Visiting adventures will find a tailor here, a tanner, a smith and a bowyer, all selling goods of uncommon quality.

There is an inn too, though travellers report disappointment in its fare. The ale is good enough, but the food is mostly a vegetable stew, only occasionally improved with the meat of a rabbit or some similar rodent caught in the marshes hereabouts.

By contrast, the smells of roasted flesh and sounds of good cheer coming from the village longhouse can make a visitor in the Inn long for an invitation there. But though the villagers here are polite and easy going, such an invitation is never forthcoming. The Longhouse and it’s delicious smelling fare is strictly for villagers only.

These are the famed Monster Hunters.

Since the Bloodmist lifted, the men and women of Brightwater have earned a reputation as fierce hunters who prey upon the Demons that flooded through the Nexus, and Zygopher’s abominable creations. They relish the hunt, which they see variously as subsistence, sport and business.

As a business they sell their monster-hunting services to surrounding villages. The fees they charge are high but flexible, taking most of what the village produces in a year, but leaving just enough to sustain the village in the next year. Despite the high cost, villagers are willing to pay – the monsters terrorising the villages are, after all, truly fearsome and will have killed previous hunting parties sent out by villagers themselves. Indeed, Brightwater now sees travellers from more distant villages, even other kin, come seeking aid, as the reputation of the Monster Hunters spreads.

The Rust Brothers see the monster hunters of Brightwater as competition, and would like to investigate them further and, if possible, induct them into the order, or if necessary, remove them entirely. But so far, their clumsy attempts to find the location of the Brightwater village have met with obfuscation and misdirection from those who rely on the Monster Hunters’ services.

When a creature is targeted by the Monster Hunters, the villagers of Brightwater organise it as a sport. First two or three scouts are sent to observe the creature and ascertain it’s habits. Then depending upon what the scouts have learned, a hunting party is formed. This is normally made up of up to five “Pickers,” the Master Monster Hunter his or herself, and an apprentice who carries the Final Cut, a ceremonial Halberd.

A number of other villagers accompany the hunting party, including builders who will create a “course” – a series of obstacles designed to funnel the creature into an arena where the Monster Hunters do their work; and even occasionally, a grandstand, from which the client villagers can watch the kill.

It is the Pickers’ job to drive, or tempt, the creature down the course to the arena where the Monster Hunter and their apprentice wait. The preferred way to do this is on foot, armed with javelins, with which to weaken and enrage the monster. But if circumstances demand it, two of the pickers will be on horseback. And occasionally, for particularly tough monsters, the javelins will be replaced with heavy crossbows. Sometimes one of the pickers will even be a sorcerer. All their attacks are ranged, however, it is not their job to get close to the monster.

Their job is to drive the monster to the Monster Hunter, and to weaken it enough that the Monster Hunter can fight it in melee. Each Monster Hunter has their preferred weapon for melee combat, but at some point will always switch to the Final Cut, the halberd carried by the apprentice, to finish the creature off. The apprentice never normally engages in combat, unless they are the last Hunter standing, in which case they are raised to the rank of master Monster Hunter.

All the monster hunters eschew armour, preferring instead to fight scantily clad in cloth and leather, showing off their athletic physique. Everyone agrees that Monster Hunters are very attractive.

But there is a dark secret behind their looks. During the Bloodmist and after, the villagers of Brightwater survived by feasting on the creatures they killed. Many such creatures, and especially the misgrown are held together by the substance Mog. Not many people, other than Zygofer and later Zytera know about mog, but most people instinctively realise that meat from monsters in tainted and stay well clear.

The villagers of Brightwater though, had no such fear (they all have the Fearless talent), and feasted hungrily on the chaotic flesh. Over the years they even created myths of butchery, deciding, without much evidence, which parts of the flesh are edible and which must not be eaten. And, at first, their culinary courage seemed to be rewarded. They felt healthier, grew stronger and yes, became more good-looking as monster flesh became a regular part of their diet. They even seemed to age more slowly.

But then they learned the terrible cost of eating mog-tainted flesh. It poisoned not them, but their unborn children. All their children are born deformed. And most die within a few hours of birth. Only a few survive and these are looked after well by their loving parents. But the village’s collective shame means they keep their children hidden from visitors. The “school house” where the women go to give birth, and all the surviving children live out their lives, is a little way away from the village’s more public buildings, and visitors are prevented from getting too close.

The villagers of Brightwater never explain the lack of children in public life, or the real reason why visitors only get vegetable stew while the natives feast on meat. They know that one day, even the longest lived of them will be gone and the village of Brightwater will only be a memory. But if they live like heroes, that memory will be a legend.

Who are the Red Riders? Elves of course, I knew that. And I remembered, from my initial read through of the books, something about them protecting the ruby red crystals that were elf souls, denuded of flesh. But that’s all. So when our party were attacked by a corrupted, undead elf, and recovered her blackened crystal heart. I thought I should pull together everything I knew about the elf faction that might make an appearance, should my party try to take the crystal to the still mist, trade it, or do something with it that I hadn’t yet imaged.

Eschewing the books, I turned instead to the PDFs, where I could search for words, and find every mention of it listed. And my first problem was that they were not mentioned at all. Not mentioned in the Gamemasters’ Guide, not mentioned in the Players’ Handbook. I was puzzled, where has I read about them? I turned to the Ravens Purge campaign book. Not there either? It took me a little while to realise that I was searching for Red Riders, not Redrunners. I gave myself a mental slap for stupidity and started my search again.

The Redrunners were founded by the elf Gemalda in an effort to reclaim the heart of her sister, who had been eaten by the Giant, Scrome.* So their founding purpose was indeed to recover the crystal hearts of fallen elves. They are named for the star that (legend has it) rained Elven hearts upon the world. Ashamed at humanity’s invasion of the Ravenlands, and angry at the Orc’s failure to obediently defend their realm, they have chosen not to retreat with their brethren into hidden Elven enclaves, but to roam the Forbidden Lands, defending life from Demons and Rust Brothers. I am sure they see themselves as heroes, but to the rest of the world they seem arrogant and condescending. Indeed, they despise the other kin, even when they see them as allies. They must, occasionally be able to befriend people of other kin though, as they maintain a network of spies. That said, as that network is said to consist of animals as well as other kin, perhaps in the eyes of the Redrunners, everyone else is an animal that can be easily trained…

The Redrunners maintain their intelligence gathering operation on behalf of the wider elf community, such as the Druidic order of the Golden Bough, and they are sometimes seen as the Druids’ boot-boys, tasked with demonstrating Elven strength when some-else has something that the Golden Bough druids want.

Kalman Rodenfell is a leader of the Redrunners, but I am not sure he is THE leader. An old elf, “his stone heavy with age, his feet rooted like trees in the blood of his enemies”, he spends most of his time in the Stillmist, but he is not adverse to wandering the Forbidden Lands if the need (or opportunity) is great enough. Adventures are more likely to meet his lieutenant, Ulmaya or her lover Alsuro. These centuries old elves, her skin like polished wood, and his hair like silver, are very different from each other. Alsuro is vicious, racist and warlike, but his lover, and commanding officer Ulmayer, while being a dutiful soldier, prefers to find more peaceful ways to complete her missions. Another Redrunner is Malina Redwing who has adapted her flesh to be able to fly a little, but who, like Alsuro, despises anyone who isn’t an elf, even Elvenspring.

And that’s about as much as anybody knows about the Redrunners. Which is a little disappointing. One of the things I loved about Coriolis was the deep and inspiring, and often contradictory history of the factions. Every paragraph, it seemed, could be a springboard for adventure. In contrast, the Redrunners are somewhat one-dimensional – haughty, militaristic elves. But Forbidden Lands is a young game, and the world and it’s Lore is young too. The intricate detail of the Third Horizon was created not just by its authors, but also its fans, some of whom became Fria Ligan. It’s up to us fans to add nuance to this fantasy.

And so, let me add a little here. Remember those Red Riders I was looking for? The ones that don’t exist? Well, they do now. Gemalda’s most trusted lieutenant, on that first fateful mission, was a young Elf called Lilya Redfox. Lilya came to lead the Cavalry division of the the Redrunners, which fought alongside the swordsmen and archers, mounted on fast, aggressive red deer stags. Eventually she was entrusted with Gemalda’s Entwood Flute. This long but simple, rustic flute was the war-horn of the Redrunners. Silent to any other kin, it could be heard by Elves wherever in the world they are. To most elves, it sounds like sweet musics. But to the Redrunners, the tune is a code, which can call all the Redrunners together to form an army, and in battle can direct that army’s manouvers.

However, Lilya fell out with the other Redrunners. Their oath to defend life in the Forbidden Lands, meant all life, she insisted. Even the orcs and invading humans. “We do not despise the Fox for eating the rabbit,” she said “so who are we to judge when humankind seek to farm the Ravenlands?” Eventually she could tolerate the Redrunners’ arrogant racism no longer, and left, taking with her her loyal cavalry and the EFG (Entwood Flute of Gemelda). Considered a traitor by the Redrunners, it is said that she and her warband still roam the Forbidden Lands. There are stories of the Red deer riders interceding in disputes, and defending villages from Demons, but otherwise they keep themselves to themselves. Some whisper that Lilya might maintain contact with Mergolene, but the Elven Druid denies it.

Lilya Redfox

STRENGTH 4, AGILITY 5, WITS 4, EMPATHY 5

SKILLS: Endurance 3, Melee 4, Stealth 4, Move 3, Marksmanship 5, Insight 3, Survival 2, Crafting 3

TALENTS: Inner Peace, Horseback Fighter 3, Path of The Companion 3, Bowyer 2, Fast Shooter 3

GEAR: Shortbow, broadsword, dagger, leather armor

Rådur, Lilya’s WarDeer

STRENGTH 4, AGILITY 4

SKILLS: Move 4, Scout 4, Melee 3

Antlers Damage 1, Bludgeon or Stab

Movement rate 2

*Scrome the giant is very long lived. He was guardian of the Shadowgate pass, when Zygofer had a run-in with him, during the Third Alder war of 833-845, and now guards the Vale of the Dead.

Some GMs may be wary of random encounter tables, worried that they will throw up something that makes no sense within the developing story. I hope this shared experience will convince you to try creating story entirely at random. It’s what I did last November. Which was an emergency situation: I had not been planning to run Forbidden Lands for a while, but after our one-off (which we released last year as the Ravenland Tales Actual Play) the party wanted to continue, and more than that they wanted me to run an extra game at our gaming retreat.

At first I thought that I could simply use a Ravens Purge adventure, but the party had already decided to head to the ruins of Wailers Hold, and I did’t think any of the published adventures really fitted that place. Of course my first error had been that I had not fed the party any legends which maybe would have tempted them to one of the published adventures. Now they were headed to somewhere I hadn’t planned, so I needed to work out what they would find.

Still feeling the chagrin of not givin them a legend or two, I started with the legends generator, to see what it might say about Wailers Hold. So I turned to page 26 and started rolling dice

“A long time ago, (roll … 32) during the Alder Wars, there was a (roll …44) beautiful (roll … 21) Druid (I immediately decided it was a Elven Druid) who sought (roll … 33) an enemy (hmmmm who I wonder) because of (roll … 24) a promise (made to a dwarf I thought, given that once Wailers Hold was a Dwarven city) and travelled to (I chose all of the following as I knew where they were going, and where they had got to, last time they played): a hill a days march away in the ruins north east ,

And the legend goes she (roll … 24 again) was never seen again, and that there is (roll 65!) an Elven ruby (which is cool because my Druid is an elf … this all fits!), but also (roll … 24 AGAIN!) cruel (roll… 66… ooh, roll again, just one dice … 3…oh just one) a cruel Demon. Aha! The enemy my elven Druid was searching for.

So a demon is my big bad. I went straight to the Demons section of the Gamemasters’ Guide to create one. But I am NOT going to tell you about that, as my players have not yet met him, and they, especially my co-host Dave, might read this.

Instead, let’s move to the village. I had decided, given the size of the ruins on the map, to make two adventure sites, I rolled the d6 twice and discovered that a there would be a village among the ruins, and a dungeon. I must admit I had hoped for a castle, but rather than ignore the rolls (which I could have done), I decided to run with it and see what developed.

I started by rolling a d6 to see what type (how large) the settlement is. A six – the village in the ruins of Wailers Hold is large. It was populated (d66, a 43) during the bloodmist. It’s is worth noting here that “during the bloodmist” is the most common result in this table, which gives me an insight into how the authors envision the world – very few of the settlements that existed before the bloodmist survived the demon invasion.

The ruler of the village is a (roll… 54) stern (roll… 43) oh, there is no ruler. It must be the people of the village who are stern.

The village problem is (roll… double one) Nightwargs… aha, probably because of that Demon the legend refers to. It’s famous for (roll … 56) worshiping demons. Aha, the villagers worship that demon in the legend! No wonder the Nightwargs prowl around. The village oddity is (roll … 14) an incomprehensible accent … hmmm, they must get that from communing with the demon. Now, I note here there is nothing to help you choose the kin. The assumption must be that villages are human, I guess, but or maybe I should refer to the map on page 46. Anyhow, I selected Alderlanders.

The village generator includes between zero and eleven “institutions”, larger villages get 1d6+5, which, for me, was Eight. They included two taverns, one inn (they drink a lot here), a mill, stables, smith, trading post (aha, I thought, this is one that buys and trades in stuff people manage to find in the ruins), and a militia. Quite how the milita is organised, given no system of civic government, I am not sure. I imagine them as a sort of “neighbourhood warg watch”.

Now here, I think I made a mistake. You can get some colourful detail for your Inn, but I used the same tables for the taverns too. The first had Barrels instead of chairs, planks instead of tables (15) served stewed turnips (24) and was frequented by old war veteran (37 – but I curious about this, surely the blood mist prevented most Wars for the last 300 years.) it was called (roll … 32)The Happy (roll … 35)Dog.

The second, The Old (16) Boar (32) Tavern was almost exactly the same, but instead of the … modest… furniture, it had a (roll …47) grumpy owner.

The place our adventurers actually went to, though, was the inn. Having had two places that randomly served stewed parsnips, I just assumed that the village grew only parsnips, so the inn served that too. I did roll (18) for its special guest and that turned out to be a “Scarred Treasure Hunter”. I had a name for him already, Wynchcliffe (no idea where that came from), and thought he would be the person who offered the location of the dungeon to the party (in return for a cut of what they found), having been scarred by whatever defended it. The inn’s oddity (63) was a birthday party, which I didn’t actually use when we played. The journey to Wailers Hold had taken enough play time, and I thought I would reserve it for the next session. The inn’s name was good though – 65 and 41, the Boisterous Girl.

Next, the dungeon. It is (roll … 4) an average dungeon with (roll … 9) ‘rooms’. It’s a (roll …61) tomb, built by Dwarves (I didn’t roll for this, as Wailer’s Hold was a Dwarven city). Neither did I roll for its history. I was having an idea, “it’s a tomb for the elven druid from the legend”, I thought, “built by her Dwarven lover, to whom she had made the promise… or maybe its HIS tomb. He was killed by the demon, and she came to avenge him… yes that’s it!” I did roll for the current inhabitants though, and got a 46 – Nightwargs. That fits with Nightwargs being a problem for the village, this is obviously where they are coming from. Is the demon trapped in the dungeon by the Nightwargs I wondered? But if it was, how do the villagers get to worship it? Still I did think then that our heroes might discover the demon as a big bad in the dungeon. That’s not how it panned out in the end though.

The entrance to the dungeon is (roll… 26) down a hole. Right, so the scarred treasure hunter dug the hole. Its not the “proper” entrance to the tomb. It’s fresh, there may even be a rope dangling down. In my head I was already thinking he might have left one or two dead companions down there.

I won’t take you though all the rolls for the rooms. The hole led down through the ceiling of a corridor. At one end of which was a room with a creature, which I decided had a Nightwarg in it. And a valuable silver altar. This was (it would turn out) the most valuable treasure in the whole dungeon, in the (likely) first room the party would explore. I went off on some idle speculation that dwarves maybe built their tombs close to the surface because they live deeper underground and were tasking with building the world bigger to reach Huge’s hearth.

At the other end of the corridor was a stairway – a roll of six on the random room chart, which I rolled four times in a row… so it was a VERY long deep spiral staircase. That left only three more rooms in my dungeon. Thankfully they were all actual rooms, (well two rooms and a hall) not more staircase. But I was worried that this dungeon would not be big enough. Two of the rooms had multiple doors though. One had had two, one blocked and one trapped (I had the body of the scarred treasure hunters companion in this one to give my players a clue). The other had room three doors, I made one of those connect to the Hall but decided that, I could extend the dungeon through the other two, or deeper down the staircase, in play by rolling dice as the players explored. To do that though, they would have to defeat the two night wargs I put in that room. Actually I should be honest. I wrote “x? Nightwargs”. I’d decide how many exactly when I saw the challenge that the one upstairs gave the players.

The hall no items or traps in it. Just a creature. I rolled a 37. Undead. Not good enough. By now I had a story in my head about the elf who came to avenge the death of the dwarf and was cursed by the demon that killed him and now inhabited his tomb. I imagined the elf dancing for centuries with the cadaver of her Dwarven lover – and that’s what the players found.

As it turns out, by this time we were playing late into the night, so I had no need to extend the dungeon through those doors. Indeed I edited one encounter out … the Players were meant to discover the demon in that hall too, watching the cursed elf dance. But I decided the elf herself was threat enough for my players’ injured characters. The demon was … elsewhere. Perhaps they’ll meet it the next time we play…

From today, Forbidden Lands can be ordered from Fria Ligan, Modiphius or DriveThru . I was a Kickstarter backer and so have had early drafts, completed PDF’s and now the physical product for a little while, so I think it is worth  publishing a review for those considering purchasing it. This is based upon experience of playing, reflection and, having the books in my hand.

Conclusion

Lets cut to the chase. This is what you really want to know. But if you want a little more detail, on how I came to these conclusions, there’s more below.

You might imagine that, as a Kickstarter Backer, and one half of the Coriolis Effect podcast, I may be predisposed to liking this game. And I am. But my expectations were high, and I have not been disappointed. Yes, obviously I would recommend this game. We played a one-off scenario, and my players wanted more. One of the starts running his own campaign on Monday.

Specifically I would recommend it for two audiences. For many around my age, the team at Free League have created the game were wishing for back when we were twelve. All the possibilities that the games of the early eighties offered us, are here finally realized. Intuitive mechanics make combat gritty and heroic, magic thrilling and even resource management entertaining and fun. For people starting out in the hobby, this is an excellent value box, that gives you everything you need (apart from dice and a pencil) to build your very own world of adventure.

Who is it not for? Well, I know somebody who hates dice pool systems, and prefers a d20. It’s not for him I guess. But even if you are wary of dice pools, let me reassure you that this one is simple, fast and fun.

The physical product

This is a boxed game, a conceit that reflects its origins. In Sweden many games RPGs are still boxed, in the way that early Dungeons and Dragons, Runequest and Traveller were. The publishers, Free league (or Fria Ligan), set out to create a modern take on the classic games that some of us remember from the early eighties. So by boxing this game, they are not just conforming to the Swedish market, but also asking the rest of the world to remember the good old days. Open the box however, and the old hands may be somewhat surprised the the quality.

In the eighties, the boxes would contain a few (maybe as few as two) stapled, softcover and slim books, plus quite a lot of air. (To be fair my D&D box also contained my first set of polyhedrals). In contrast this box is full, and heavy. Most of the weight consists of two hardback, faux-leatherbound volumes, with a tasteful dark-ages design in gold on the front. and nothing but the Free League logo (also in gold) on the back. The Player’s Handbook is burgundy red and 208 pages. The Gamemaster’s Guide has 264 pages bound in Green. each of these books also has a black ribbon bookmarker.

There is a lot of wish fulfillment in these books. Forfilling the wishes of a very niche part of the market. The staples on those early games rusted, staining the pages, and those thin softcovers were not really up to being referenced back and forth again and again by players and gamesmasters alike. I am sure that many of us who enjoyed those very first RPGs sometimes wished for a rulebook that better reflected the fantasy world we were playing in. Indeed I am sure a few people collected together their rulebooks and a few supplements and and had them bound together to make them look like the sort of tome that graced a gentleman’s library. If you didn’t have the money or the initiative to get them bound though, these are the RPG books you have been waiting for for almost four decades.

But that’s not all. If you want a book that more closely resembles the thin, stapled, softcover game books of yore, Free League has you covered. Under the hardbound volumes you will find Legends and Adventures a booklet with an alternative character generation system, and monster and legend generators. And there is even more – a folded, full colour map and a sheet of stickers. The map is double sided (though sadly with the same map on both sides) and the stickers are transparent hexes so that you can place them on the map as your party explores the Forbidden lands, and make the map your own.

This last component is the most disappointing production-wise. The printing on the stickers is a little muddy, and thus the icons and labels on them are hard to see. Also, the implication of the doublesided map is that you could run the campaign twice with two different groups, but there are not enough stickers to use both sides.

Opening the two main volumes, you’ll find a version of the map on the endsheets at the front and back. These are black and white, clear and beautiful and they almost make you wish that the the main map was black and white too. Which brings me to the illustrations. In creating their modern but retro game, Free League were inspired by the black and white drawings of Nils Gulliksson, who illustrated the first Swedish language RPG, a Runequest clone called Drakar och Demoner. Indeed most of the illustations are classics from the early days of Swedish gaming, complimented with newly commissioned pieces from the same artist. These have a certain beauty which younger gamers might find difficult to fully comprehend, especially when compared with the exquisite full-colour work of Martin Grip in Free League’s other fantasy game, Symbaroum.* There is certainly a degree of nostalgia in their appeal.

Playing the game

The heart of the system will be familiar with players of Mutant: Year Zero; Coriolis; and Tales from the Loop. Of the three, its closest to MY0. Which is entirely appropriate because it is a game of survival, in a fantasy world that has had its own apocalypse of sorts. Like that game, it is best played with enough dice of three different colours. There is a custom set available (more on that in another post) but MY0 veterans can play with those, and lets face it d6 are not something most gamers are short of. Most rolls are made by pooling a number of “base” d6 for your attribute, with a number for your skill and maybe one or two for your gear, and rolling. All you need to succeed is one six (which is marked with crossed swords on the custom dice) to succeed, but more successes improve the effect of your action – more damage in a fight, for example. If you fail, or if you want more successes, you can “push” the dice, rolling again. But the cost of this can be harsh – you can not re-roll any base dice or gear dice which came up one. And these, plus any more ones you roll on your base or gear dice, will do you, or your gear, damage.

This version of the dice pool might seem complicated at first, to those who have come from Coriolis or Tales from the Loop, but you soon get the hang of it, and it creates a wonderfully nuanced and narrative flow to the game.

Unlike MY0 or its sister games, Forbidden Lands also uses d8, d10, and d12, mostly for magical artefacts, but I particularly like the Pride mechanic, which enables a player to name one thing they are very good at. Once per game session, when a player has failed a vital role even after pushing their dice, if they can explain how their pride applies, they get to roll the d12. This has a greater than 50% chance of turning your failure into success, and not just one, but up to four success, which could mean a critical effect. The catch is, if you roll 1-5, your pride was obviously a false one. You strike it from your character sheet and must play a whole session before you can pick something to replace it.

Its a tough combat system, your strength attribute is your “hit points”, and only the most exceptional character will ever have as many as six. Given even a glancing blow from a heavy axe can deal three, your players will find combat short, gritty, exciting, and something to be avoided. A quarter day’s rest will restore all your attributes, but if you are broken in combat, you also take a critical hit, for the possibility of permanent damage, a slow death or, if you are lucky, a quick one. My advice to players is hit first, hit hard, wear armour, and take up archery.

Character generation is speedy and fun, especially if you use the random system found in the Legends and Adventurers booklet. If you do though, note that unfortunately a number of talents are named in that booklet that don’t appear in the Players Handbook. In Horseback Archer becomes Horseback Fighter, and we had to replace Scrounger with Quartermaster. I guess the talents named were in an earlier draft. If random generation isn’t your thing, then there is a simple point-buy alternative. One feature I particularly like is that you can start out, young, adult, or old (unless you are an elf – elves are ageless). As you get older you loose attribute points but gain skills and talents. Talents I should say, are specialisms and abilities that turn your relatively broad skill set into a very individual character.

I am generally not a fan of magic systems based on lists of pre-defined spells, but that said recognize the difficulties of creating more freeform RPG magic systems, especially in regards to spotlight  balance in games where not everyone is a magic user. This is spell list based but flexible in the casting. Players should learn quickly though that magic is risky – a couple of unlucky rolls can see you cast into a terrible hell with no hope of return – as a PC at least. The risk can be mitigated with preparation though, taking time to write your spells down and gather ingredients.

Which brings me onto a key philosophy in the game. This system makes resource management easy and fun to play. By breaking activities down in quarter days, by using simple mechanics like resource dice for ammunition, food and water, and a carrying capacity defined by lines in your gear list the system neatly abstracts and gamifies the more simulationist tendencies of (what we used to call) wilderness campaigns. We’ve played a couple of adventures so far and my players have enjoyed the scavenging for roots to supplement their food supplies. The resource management has not got in the way or story, indeed its has informed  the narrative.

There is one resource that you can only get through failure. When you push your dice and take damage (or wear for your gear) on ones, you also earn willpower points. Willpower powers magic spells and a good number of talents. There has been some debate about this mechanic. Some people are unhappy that only physical strain earns you the power to do spells (players start with no willpower and can only store up to ten points), or they can’t see a connection between taking damage and gaining resolve. It may not lend itself to immersion, but I like the way it builds the narrative beats – your triumphs are all the sweeter after failure, after all.

The World

Part of me wishes the setting was a humanocentric one, like Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones or The First Law books, but this is a retro game, and so of course there are not just humans, but Elves, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, Orcs, Goblins and (less obviously retro, except perhaps to Traveller players) Wolfkin. Swedish genre author Erik Granstrom manages to give us all the nostalgic fantasy tropes our heart desires but put a subtle spin of novelty on them which makes this world strange and beautiful. Part of the strangeness is due to this world being described mostly in myth and legend, with some of the stories contradicting each other and very little (but just enough) explaining the “true” ecology. The elves in this game have a marvelous yet non-game-break-y immortality that makes them seem truly alien. Halflings and goblins have a link that is both novel and yet a reflection of the Frodo/Gollum relationship, and Dwarves build the world as much as mine it. Humans in this world are the invaders, and orcs the (by no means hapless) victims. There is just enough cliche to recognise and plenty of novelty to explore and excite the imagination.

One of the best assets of the GM’s Guide (and the Legends and Adventurers booklet) is the help it offers in world building. There are three sample “adventure sites”, none of which offer an “on the rails” story, but NPCs, motivations, and opportunities that allow your party to truely create their own adventure. On top of these sites however there are random generation tables that enable any GM, even the greenest, to confidently prepare an adventure in advance. A quick thinking GM could even create an adventure on the fly, while it is being played.

As I was ready the GM’s guide indeed, I was thinking this  might well be a perfect gift for a young and aspiring potential GM. It could be an ideal first RPG even. All you really need (apart from dice) for a world of adventure is contained in just one box.

Further Reading

If you want even more detail, check out my previous read-though of the PDFs.

* Free League and Jarnringen have merged.

No podcast this week as we are preparing for #DragonMeet ~PodcastZone tomorrow Saturday 1 December. But in the place of our dulcet tones, a quickly made video of my Forbidden Lands unboxing. There may be other boxing videos out there (I was one of the last of the Kickstarter backers to get their copy, earlier today), but do they show the GMs screen? Didn’t faff around mixing the sound for this, so I am quiet, but its not what I say but what you see that counts.