I played in Wes's sample game and he kept it moving. I think we did three combats and a trap in an hour and a half. I've played in two of Wes's games so far, and hope for more in the future, definitely. Thanks for the review. It gave people a really good idea whether Forbidden Lands might be for them.
That push mechanic is really cool. Like you said, I like how it reduces the stats until you can rest. Quite literally showing you're pushing yourself beyond your limits and need to recover! I'm also loving that all of these smaller systems you're highlighting have a lot of that failure, but the story progresses success with a twist sort of idea that I think is lacking mechanically from the big systems, even though most people do that type of thing at the table themselves.
Yah. AND damage you take saps base dice as well so…DANGER. I think Year Zero Engine works for gritty games where you want to AVOID combat as much as possible, and all the other skills lend themselves to that “try anything” concept. Because the narrative never screeches to a halt trying things you “aren’t optimized for” goes back to being FUN.
It is a really cool box set, especially for the price. A lot of value compared to the full-color glossy books we get from the big gaming companies. I can't help but love the hex-crawl setting. Definitely a "love letter to old school games"... with a modernistic dice pool and narrative-edged system. A real neat take on fantasy TTRPGs, especially with DnD's newest edition stumbling out of the gate. /For those who buy online, the game is less expensive on the big evil A----n company. Yes, more expensive from Free League, but I think they also give you the PDF as well as the hard copy.
Fun video, but there's no mention of how interesting travel is! I hate travel in most games, but this game makes it fun. First, your food and water are represented by dice. Whenever you camp, you roll to see if they degrade to a lesser die type like a d8 to a d6. If it degrades you can hunt, fish, forage and replenish water. This makes your travel path vary because you might need the resources that a particular terrain has to offer. Furthermore, there are detailed encounters that fit the terrain the party is on. Some of the terrain contains settlements/ruins that you must randomly generate to see what advantages, perils and oddities they contain. Your players' experience will greatly differ from others! A word of warning though, you might want to pre generate the settlements/ruins if your players are impatient. There's even more to the game like base building and crafting if that excites you.
Yah, I could do a whole separate video on travel and stronghold building! I love the resource dice mechanic, too! Forbidden Lands and Dragonbane both make travel FUN.
The sandbox tools and rules are definitely welcome, and a big bonus selling point. Seems to have been a common focus for many MYZ games like this, from Mutant Year Zero itself to Coriolis & Twilight 2000.
Gotta get this one to the table at some point. I'm hoping to grab the Bestiary at some point, which if I remember right has some solo rules. At this point, it's the most likely way I'll get a stab at it.
Oh I’ve had them…I’m just terrible at advertising. TERRIBLE. And, yah, I need to dive into the exploration rules to test out that aspect of the system. But both Forbidden Lands and Dragonbane do this about as well as I’ve seen!
I'd second enthusiasm for the exploration rules, and add strongholds and a surprisingly vibrant third party ecosystem of small supplements. Finally, the official support has been tremendous with expansions that are even more engaging (I'd put the recent Book of Beasts up against any other publisher's content).
@@DMTalesTTRPGYes. As a disclaimer I haven't played FL a ton and YZE games altogether to a limited degree. What I world have liked to see more of in the review is how the skill system, the equipment falling apart, the hex-crawl, the pre-created random encounters and the whole survival mechanics come together. All of it really helps create an emergent game style. There's some room I feel for streamlining the mechanics with combat especially but that's a small nitpick. Also the monsters are very cool with the same mechanic as in Dragonbane. About the setting, I don't know why the creators decided to place the game a few years after the mist lifted and not right after. Or at least how I ended up running it so that the PC's home village was in an area where the mist just lifted while in other areas people may have traveled for a while already. This does make the beautiful map a bit of a dilemma as well. Do you hand it out from the get go or let the players discover it a hex at a tim? Looks like foundry with the fog of war works wonderfully.
I think setting it a few years after the blood mist lifted was to give just a BIT of reconnection between the kin. I have not tried the hex craw features yet. That’s gonna be my next test. We just did a crawl in the one session I ran.
Great review. I've had this game for a few months, I haven't played it yet. I'm impressed with it. The two things that bug me are the map; it looks incredible, but it has all the locations already printed on it, I'd prefer a map that had the hexes and the terrain, but not the villages. The PC's haven't travelled for 300 years, they wouldn't know where these villages are The second is the Willpower system for casting spells. You gain Willpower for failing a roll, wouldn't a spellcasting PC be eager to make a Hunting roll (or a skill they're poor at) just so they fail?
The maps actually not filled in with the places you explore, you’re supposed to do that in your own. But I hear you. And the willpower system seems over-harsh. But I had a BLAST running this, too:
@@DMTalesTTRPG my map has illustrations of villages, towers, dungeons and ruins. I'm not talking about stickers, they're still untouched on the sheet For example, if you look in the forest Feulenmark there's a ruined site called Varassa. In the bottom left of the map, near the Thynde Range (mountains) there's ruins of Alderstone.... etc There's 6 named sites, and 79 keyed locations on the map. I'd prefer it just to be geographical locations personally
Hi, there seems to be a solo mode available to this game. Did you try it? Im asking because I wish to play with my kids. Maybe the best way is actually to play togheter with them, not as GM. Or maybe part GM part player ? I like the exploring idea, with map, etc. How suitable is this game for kids? They don't have English as their first language, and the is from 8-14.
The solo play rule are in the Book of Beasts, which I JUST purchased but haven’t had a chance to read yet. This might be a bit mature for an 8 year old, the lore is…it’s pretty grim…though you can customize it for your children. The game’s rather brutal, too, it’s easy to die. I actually play Dragonbane with my 6 year old over this, there’s more mirth in it which I can highlight for him and it makes for a good time. But Forbidden Lands is QUITE good.
@@DMTalesTTRPG So you would suggest to instead try Dragonbane with my kids? Im actually thinking either forbidden lands or dragonbane. We tried d&d, but some of the rules characters/classes are a bit too much for kids - too much to remember/comprehend.
The solo mode in Forbidden Lands is well done... but kind of specific to a solo gamer. The design philosophy is focused on a main character & companion NPCs. It's more clever & nuanced than simply doing a party-based game in a solo format. (Now, if you want to limit options for the kids (Companions don't engage Willpower & Talents like a main character), this might not be a bad thing. Also, you could just make everyone into main characters & ignore the Companion simplifications.) Also, it's a superb hexcrawl game, and there are good ideas from the hex-exploration standpoint. The solo mode simplifies the hex-crawl exploration somewhat, as I recall. (When you leave one hex and enter another, there are typical skill checks that should be made by the player(s).) (Also, there are base-building rules. At some point, your adventurers will accumulate enough to build their own base of operations... which is another excellent part of this game.) Regarding non-native English speakers engaging with the books in English... I am told it's written very well in Swedish by a very good writer of Swedish fantasy fiction. The English version reflects a straightforward, "very Swedish" writing approach. While there are idioms, it's not overly idiomatic in its English since it is originally written in Swedish. (I don't believe it's overly complicated in terms of language, but I am a native English speaker who is a student of the Swedish language.) As for subject material... the lands are violent (but not hyper-violent), and the Blood Mist was a terrible curse. There are mutated humans and demonic creatures, but they are clearly not the good people of the Raven Lands. There are weird oddities & mutated things & chimeric creatures. There's no unusual sex demons or creatures. I would say that, in terms of subject material for children, it's no worse than your standard Fantasy setting. MORK BORG might be more transgressive and less appropriate for children than the Raven Lands, in my opinion, if you wanted another game to measure this one by. It's probably comparable to the Lord of the Rings in terms of subject matter & appropriateness for children.
@@DMTalesTTRPG picking 2, 3 or 4 dice of 3 different colors, rolling, looking up for 1's or 6's, then pick 4 or 5 for the monster roll and look again... damn how do you make it go fast? Maybe a got topic for a quick video 😉
@@blamp666 I don’t understand “4 or 5 for the monster and look again.” I mean I show the way rolls work in the video. It’s not hard to pull out the 1s and 6s, and you keep the dice colors separate. I suspected it would be too many dice rolls, my experience was the opposite.
From GMing this system frequently (just yesterday as a matter of fact) the combats are super fast, no rerolling initiative every round, no asking whose turn it is because their card is on the table with their number on it, the cards also track actions. In addition since damage degrades skills it’s just a few rounds before people are combat ineffective
I played in Wes's sample game and he kept it moving. I think we did three combats and a trap in an hour and a half. I've played in two of Wes's games so far, and hope for more in the future, definitely. Thanks for the review. It gave people a really good idea whether Forbidden Lands might be for them.
Thanks John!!
That push mechanic is really cool. Like you said, I like how it reduces the stats until you can rest. Quite literally showing you're pushing yourself beyond your limits and need to recover! I'm also loving that all of these smaller systems you're highlighting have a lot of that failure, but the story progresses success with a twist sort of idea that I think is lacking mechanically from the big systems, even though most people do that type of thing at the table themselves.
Yah. AND damage you take saps base dice as well so…DANGER.
I think Year Zero Engine works for gritty games where you want to AVOID combat as much as possible, and all the other skills lend themselves to that “try anything” concept. Because the narrative never screeches to a halt trying things you “aren’t optimized for” goes back to being FUN.
Does seem like an interesting system, always appreciate mechanics that help show the danger/rarity of magic
Yah, when I finally got to use the Year Zero Engine myself it just WORKED.
It is a really cool box set, especially for the price. A lot of value compared to the full-color glossy books we get from the big gaming companies.
I can't help but love the hex-crawl setting.
Definitely a "love letter to old school games"... with a modernistic dice pool and narrative-edged system. A real neat take on fantasy TTRPGs, especially with DnD's newest edition stumbling out of the gate.
/For those who buy online, the game is less expensive on the big evil A----n company. Yes, more expensive from Free League, but I think they also give you the PDF as well as the hard copy.
The game is quite nice. I enjoyed running it!
Fun video, but there's no mention of how interesting travel is! I hate travel in most games, but this game makes it fun. First, your food and water are represented by dice. Whenever you camp, you roll to see if they degrade to a lesser die type like a d8 to a d6. If it degrades you can hunt, fish, forage and replenish water. This makes your travel path vary because you might need the resources that a particular terrain has to offer.
Furthermore, there are detailed encounters that fit the terrain the party is on. Some of the terrain contains settlements/ruins that you must randomly generate to see what advantages, perils and oddities they contain. Your players' experience will greatly differ from others!
A word of warning though, you might want to pre generate the settlements/ruins if your players are impatient.
There's even more to the game like base building and crafting if that excites you.
Yah, I could do a whole separate video on travel and stronghold building! I love the resource dice mechanic, too!
Forbidden Lands and Dragonbane both make travel FUN.
The sandbox tools and rules are definitely welcome, and a big bonus selling point. Seems to have been a common focus for many MYZ games like this, from Mutant Year Zero itself to Coriolis & Twilight 2000.
Yes. Though these seem more fun than Mutant Year Zero…which just felt like ALL TENSION.
One point, critical damage is consequential, other damage not so much, which is a great way to distinguish “harm” vs “hurt”
Yes. I’m enjoying games that make this distinction more and more.
Great overview, Wes! Glad you enjoyed Forbidden Lands!
Thanks Doug! It was MORE fun than I was expecting, I can’t wait to run it again!
Gotta get this one to the table at some point. I'm hoping to grab the Bestiary at some point, which if I remember right has some solo rules. At this point, it's the most likely way I'll get a stab at it.
I had a great time running it.
Superb review! I especially liked how you showed dice while explaining mechanics! I hope when I finish my system, it will be reviewed by you.
That is very kind thing to say, thank you!
Forbidden lands is awesome! Their adventures and exploration rules in particular are great I think. You have shirt now whhaaaat!? :D
Oh I’ve had them…I’m just terrible at advertising. TERRIBLE.
And, yah, I need to dive into the exploration rules to test out that aspect of the system. But both Forbidden Lands and Dragonbane do this about as well as I’ve seen!
@@DMTalesTTRPG Yes true both very good on exploration
@@pickpocketpressrpgvideos6655 it’s nice to see this part of RPGs make a come back.
I'd second enthusiasm for the exploration rules, and add strongholds and a surprisingly vibrant third party ecosystem of small supplements. Finally, the official support has been tremendous with expansions that are even more engaging (I'd put the recent Book of Beasts up against any other publisher's content).
@@paulbigbee I am interested in picking up the book of beasts. There’s a lot to like about the game.
Yay! It's here! Also I have to say that Small Talk T is awesome 😁
Knew you’d be happy! I do like that shirt at lot!
@@DMTalesTTRPG Indeed!
@paavohirn3728 so did I do the game justice?
@@DMTalesTTRPGYes. As a disclaimer I haven't played FL a ton and YZE games altogether to a limited degree. What I world have liked to see more of in the review is how the skill system, the equipment falling apart, the hex-crawl, the pre-created random encounters and the whole survival mechanics come together. All of it really helps create an emergent game style.
There's some room I feel for streamlining the mechanics with combat especially but that's a small nitpick. Also the monsters are very cool with the same mechanic as in Dragonbane.
About the setting, I don't know why the creators decided to place the game a few years after the mist lifted and not right after. Or at least how I ended up running it so that the PC's home village was in an area where the mist just lifted while in other areas people may have traveled for a while already. This does make the beautiful map a bit of a dilemma as well. Do you hand it out from the get go or let the players discover it a hex at a tim? Looks like foundry with the fog of war works wonderfully.
I think setting it a few years after the blood mist lifted was to give just a BIT of reconnection between the kin.
I have not tried the hex craw features yet. That’s gonna be my next test. We just did a crawl in the one session I ran.
Great review. I've had this game for a few months, I haven't played it yet. I'm impressed with it.
The two things that bug me are the map; it looks incredible, but it has all the locations already printed on it, I'd prefer a map that had the hexes and the terrain, but not the villages. The PC's haven't travelled for 300 years, they wouldn't know where these villages are
The second is the Willpower system for casting spells. You gain Willpower for failing a roll, wouldn't a spellcasting PC be eager to make a Hunting roll (or a skill they're poor at) just so they fail?
The maps actually not filled in with the places you explore, you’re supposed to do that in your own. But I hear you.
And the willpower system seems over-harsh.
But I had a BLAST running this, too:
@@DMTalesTTRPG my map has illustrations of villages, towers, dungeons and ruins. I'm not talking about stickers, they're still untouched on the sheet
For example, if you look in the forest Feulenmark there's a ruined site called Varassa. In the bottom left of the map, near the Thynde Range (mountains) there's ruins of Alderstone.... etc
There's 6 named sites, and 79 keyed locations on the map. I'd prefer it just to be geographical locations personally
@@hamster55789 yah. I wonder if those are sites essential to the lore. I do hear you, a players map with all that hidden would be cool.
Hi, there seems to be a solo mode available to this game. Did you try it? Im asking because I wish to play with my kids. Maybe the best way is actually to play togheter with them, not as GM. Or maybe part GM part player ? I like the exploring idea, with map, etc. How suitable is this game for kids? They don't have English as their first language, and the is from 8-14.
The solo play rule are in the Book of Beasts, which I JUST purchased but haven’t had a chance to read yet.
This might be a bit mature for an 8 year old, the lore is…it’s pretty grim…though you can customize it for your children. The game’s rather brutal, too, it’s easy to die.
I actually play Dragonbane with my 6 year old over this, there’s more mirth in it which I can highlight for him and it makes for a good time. But Forbidden Lands is QUITE good.
@@DMTalesTTRPG So you would suggest to instead try Dragonbane with my kids? Im actually thinking either forbidden lands or dragonbane. We tried d&d, but some of the rules characters/classes are a bit too much for kids - too much to remember/comprehend.
Probably. I think it’ll be faster to teach. But both are fun.
The solo mode in Forbidden Lands is well done... but kind of specific to a solo gamer. The design philosophy is focused on a main character & companion NPCs. It's more clever & nuanced than simply doing a party-based game in a solo format.
(Now, if you want to limit options for the kids (Companions don't engage Willpower & Talents like a main character), this might not be a bad thing. Also, you could just make everyone into main characters & ignore the Companion simplifications.)
Also, it's a superb hexcrawl game, and there are good ideas from the hex-exploration standpoint. The solo mode simplifies the hex-crawl exploration somewhat, as I recall. (When you leave one hex and enter another, there are typical skill checks that should be made by the player(s).)
(Also, there are base-building rules. At some point, your adventurers will accumulate enough to build their own base of operations... which is another excellent part of this game.)
Regarding non-native English speakers engaging with the books in English... I am told it's written very well in Swedish by a very good writer of Swedish fantasy fiction. The English version reflects a straightforward, "very Swedish" writing approach. While there are idioms, it's not overly idiomatic in its English since it is originally written in Swedish. (I don't believe it's overly complicated in terms of language, but I am a native English speaker who is a student of the Swedish language.)
As for subject material... the lands are violent (but not hyper-violent), and the Blood Mist was a terrible curse. There are mutated humans and demonic creatures, but they are clearly not the good people of the Raven Lands. There are weird oddities & mutated things & chimeric creatures. There's no unusual sex demons or creatures. I would say that, in terms of subject material for children, it's no worse than your standard Fantasy setting. MORK BORG might be more transgressive and less appropriate for children than the Raven Lands, in my opinion, if you wanted another game to measure this one by. It's probably comparable to the Lord of the Rings in terms of subject matter & appropriateness for children.
I just describe Forbidden Lands as “bleak.” Great lore…very bleak.
How does it compare to welcoming lands?
You doubled up on this one, Erik! Well done!
@@DMTalesTTRPG yup. lol
@@kingerikthegreatest.ofall.7860 thanks for being you.
@@DMTalesTTRPG Ty. I try to bring humor to situations.
@kingerikthegreatest.ofall.7860 it certainly makes the live streams interesting!
Love Forbidden Lands, but too many dice and the fighting is too long... 😢
I find the fights are faster than any system I’ve run.
@@DMTalesTTRPG picking 2, 3 or 4 dice of 3 different colors, rolling, looking up for 1's or 6's, then pick 4 or 5 for the monster roll and look again... damn how do you make it go fast? Maybe a got topic for a quick video 😉
@@blamp666 I don’t understand “4 or 5 for the monster and look again.”
I mean I show the way rolls work in the video. It’s not hard to pull out the 1s and 6s, and you keep the dice colors separate. I suspected it would be too many dice rolls, my experience was the opposite.
From GMing this system frequently (just yesterday as a matter of fact) the combats are super fast, no rerolling initiative every round, no asking whose turn it is because their card is on the table with their number on it, the cards also track actions.
In addition since damage degrades skills it’s just a few rounds before people are combat ineffective
@daleivarie7801 the degrading dice pools is one of the things I most appreciate!
Thanks for the comments!