Forbidden Lands Review - Core Box Set
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- Опубликовано: 29 июн 2024
- An in-depth review of The Forbidden Lands Core Set from Free League
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Notes:
1) The dice set I mention at the end is hard to find and prices are inflated so it's hard to tell the retail price.
2) Yep, the history teacher misspelled "renaissance". It was 2 am. :)
The person who draw most art in this game was also involved in the first RPG publishing Company in Sweden. They released games like "Drakar och Demoner", Mutant", KULT and so on back in the 80´s and earley 90´s.
Shit, no way. That's amazing...
Was he involved in mutant chronicles too?
Everything from free league is amazing. Coriolis, symbaraum, tales from the loop, this. They are honestly the most exciting RPG publishing company there is, the TSR of our modern day. The lorebuilding reminds me of the visionary folk lore inspiration of tolkien for all of these games - coherent, thematic worlds.
You all prolly dont care at all but does anybody know of a trick to log back into an instagram account?
I was dumb lost the login password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me!
@Alessandro Cason instablaster ;)
Glad the hiatus is over. This looks sweet, but I can’t wait for the renewed maps series to continue!
we just had our first session of forbidden lands and absolutely LOVED it. cant wait to keep playing
I've watched literally a dozen reviews of this system - yours is definitely the best I've seen thus far! Very comprehensive, yet clear. You have good insights as well.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for watching.
My favourite RUclipsr has returned!!!!! 🥳
Aslo Nate congratulations in advance for 100k subs!!🥳
Have played D&D for 35+ years. Our DM convinced us to try FL. Absolutely love it. Love the combat lethality, the social interaction, crafting and most of all building dice pools a la Shadowrun
Good review. Waiting for the combat system analysis.
Not what I expected to see when the video started, but I enjoyed it a lot. It's a nice throwback to the days of our youth.
I loved the black&white illustrations. I usually prefer color illustrations, but these are so well done, that I am perfectly fine with them.
It is a great review that gives a good idea about what the books are offering. I think the Gamemaster's Guide would be useful to any DM who wants to run a campaign to any fantasy setting.
Nice video review! I share your love of Forbidden Lands and can't wait to get it to the table later this month!
Cool. Hope it goes well!
Looks very cool! The art and book crafting is great!
Great review. Ordered my copy while watching
This game looks very well put together and the layout is amazing. I would want to own it for that alone. Some game play description and experience would be interesting.
I've been so happy with their kickstarter!
You just sold this game for me. Can't wait to play!
Thanks for you Amazing reviews. Rewards from México
Finally picked up the QS after being introduced to the system with Alien. Quite liking what I see in the quickstart. Lots of good info everyone should grab.
Thank you for this overview. I'm already a huge fan of Symbaroum and I researched enough to convince me purchase the FL 2E Box Set as well. I'll let you know how our group gets on with it.
Nice! Do let me know. :)
I was really wanting a new system instead of the more simple 5e. Thanks for the video I will consider picking this up!
The great thing about free league games, is that whilst they have fleshed out worlds, lots of abilities to choose from, often quite freeform character creation, and optional rules for added complexity, the base systems are universally simple to learn and minimally crunchy. They are all, modern, in that sense. Like a really good balance ultimately. They play simply, but they don't feel simple.
great review. thanks
You’re welcome! Thanks for watching.
The intro was an exact description of my life since getting Forbidden Lands :P
Haha!
Here’s how it goes:
“Oh man. Wow! Honey, you gotta hear this.” (Explanation of cool mechanic or description)
“That’s nice.”
“No, it’s NOT nice - it’s frickin brilliant!”
@@WASD20 I understand that feel all too much xD
This RPG is amazing! Quickly became my all-time favorite.
The Return of the Fantastic Map Master...
I’ve been on the fence about this game. This review has pushed me over to the ‘buy this now’ side.
KamikazeBadger there’s a sale on the PDF but my advice is to go for the physical version
Matthew Tyler-Jones thank for the heads up
Get this man 4k more subs!!! :D
Interesting system. Reminds me of Ars Magicka, particularly the art style of the books. I’ll probably pick it up but somehow I doubt anyone will want to play it.
What I like about this is that it is a system and some adventuring material
The cover is breathtaking, I want to buy it just to put it on display
Along with Dragonbane, Forbidden Lands is SOLID as solo and co-op game along with both being ease of use for game masters. Also Vaesen and Symboarium with some adjustments can be turned into solo/ co-op too! Free League FTW!
Forbidden lands looks interesting will have to check it out.
So have you ever looked into Dungeon World it is a PBTA fantasy game.
Dungeon World is great! So is Index Card RPG and Dungeon Crawl Classics. I've stepping away from 5th edition lately and mish-mashing a custom system with elements from OSR and modern alternative RPGs.
seems interesting. i would watch someone play it.
The card combat system sounds like X-Wing. A system I always wanted to translate to people combat.
your the man ...Nat
Love the system, also use it as my SOLO Rpg goto.
Did you use any tweaks for solo?
I want to get this
Hey! Will you do one on the new Free League Alien RPG?
1:38 OMG that spelling.....
But seriously, the artwork alone makes me want to buy this game!
I love being a gamer. I got this cool new book...puts on shelf. One day I might play you...
Sounds like MY0 but fantasy. CooL!
Mutant Year Zero is another wonderful game by Free League. I'm surprised it hasn't received more attention. I see a lot of people only refer to Tales From The Loop when mentioning their other games. Coriolis isn't bad either.
@@NefariousKoel Agreed. MYO and GenLab Alpha both blew me away. Also impressed with Coriolis. Actually bought the Coriolis book just because of how beautiful the pages and composition are.
Not sure you'll see this but... Super curious if you ever had a chance to play? I just got FBL a couple of weeks ago. Really hoping to get a grp together this fall.
There is currently a Bundle of Holding for up to 7 of the pdfs. I came here to see if it was worth it and you sold me, though, I kinda wish I was buying a physical copy instead of pdfs...
This looks really cool. What is the feasibility of having combat as a tactical, miniatures on the table sort of thing?
Great review on this. I'm interested in getting this just for something different. I've been playing D&D for years, 2nd edition mostly. I didn't like 3rd, 4th was better but I love 5th. I wish something like this was around back then. It seems simple yet effective. You have a good amount of options but not too many. In D&D it can be overwhelming to be anything but a human fighter at first. Plus I like the change of "just surviving" aspect. I'm just wondering if it's a crawl game, how much role playing is there to it? Thanks for the review. Keep up the awesome work!
Hi WASD20, did you ever get to play this? It has been sitting on my shelf and I am keen to play it. Not sure if I can get the numbers together unfortunately.
Im playing a young orc female druid super fun.
why do you specificaly need 3 diferent colors of d6 dice??
Hey Nate :D Have you played the game yet? I'd love to hear some follow up thoughts :D
This looks like a great system! I've been on a tear, reading tons of different RPG systems. I may have to add this to my reading list. I'm currently running LMoP, but during my 2 year career as DM, I've found 5th edition lacking in some key areas for me. I think it's a great game, but I long for a way to make magic seem rare and dangerous, rather than ubiquitous as it is in 5th edition from the books. I've been exploring a plethora of different systems, namely Dungeon Crawl Classics, Index Card RPG and am currently reading Dungeon World. I think my path forward is going to be using DCC as the core system, with some of the quality of life improvements 5th edition provides, as well as incorporating ideas from ICRPG and DW. I'm excited to wrap up my 5th edition campaign and embark into my homebrew mishmash!
DCC is definitely on my list to pick up.
Check out Basic Fantasy for $5 on Amazon. It is very close to old school D&D in function.
Symbaraum, also by free league is lower magic, dark fantasy. Also the most compelling dark fantasy world I've ever seen, and not so gritty as to be entirely humancentric or no-magic. As a plus, this system uses a d20 system that's even simpler to play with than 5e, familiar and has more character design freedom and combat risk.
Should I buy this?
I wish I could afford this
Cool
So it's been 4 years and no follow up video, did you get a chance to play it? What did you think?
I still have not! My shelf is full of games I haven’t played. 😁
I really only play a few new games per year.
How do you play these type of books?do you need a board?im new to them but like the look if tales from the loop.just never played one and haven't got a clue about what this book is
These are tabletop role-playing games. Some people do play with a map, but they are not necessary. This video might help: ruclips.net/video/_F-VqeDYV_o/видео.html
And next we have Forbidden Lands - The Bitter Reach Campaign and Reprint
Yeah! Just saw this. Looks cool.
Forbidden Lands has so far been the most exciting and awe inspiring RPG I've played (Vaesen is a close second).
I absolutely adore RPGs where the game mechanics encourage IC roleplaying over combat
I'm struggling between Forbidden lands and Symbaroum atm, both seem equally appealing!
@@classmateofmine Ooo, I've actually tried Symbaroum! It definitely has the best worldbuilding of the two, but I find the combat system is so difficult and complicated I'd wait for the D&D port.
@@Woodfekker I only tried a bit of Symbaorum myself. I heard the 5e conversion will be sweet, but I actually found the combat system in the original Symbaroum rules to be fairly intuitive! I also would like to give Forbidden Lands a chance, the problem with Free League games is that they are extremely addictive and it's so hard to stick with just one!
@@classmateofmine Oh, definitely! I'm a bit spoiled with Free League games since I live in Stockholm and have one of their retails just a 15 minute walk away.
Can't say much about the combat system in Forbidden Lands (since my party has avoided conflict like the plague), but I really like the aspect of not having a health pool but taking damage to your attributes instead. It's brutal, when you take damage in battle you take damage to your strength or agility and therefore have a harder time doing damage in turn. They're really trying to make the system realistic and I somehow love it (Although you do get some hilarious end results, like my half elf rogue taking mental damage from trying to read eleven). Also love that you need to play in character if you want to ensure XP at the end of the session. You get to choose a trauma or dark secret at character creation that you hide from the other players, but if you act on it in session and the GM recognizes it you get extra points to put into skills.
@@Woodfekker Wow, that seems so awesome as a mechanic and an inherent encouragement for roleplaying!
Sadly, in my country, FL is not so popular with retailers so I will have to order my stuff directly from their website. But as I've heard, they have excellent customer service so it should be a pretty easy process. Much appreciate you sharing game impressions and feedback, mate!
DMing my first session of this on Tuesday after watching your review. Have you played it yet?
No! Still haven’t. :(
WASD20 First session went well a little slow because we are all newbs to the system, including a friiend who has never played any ttrpgs. It was great fun. We aren’t using the close combat cards as I feel it would be too crunchy. The systems work really well. I was surprised at how simple it was. The travel, encumberance and tracking of consumables is really good. I never run consumables or encumberance in 5e as the systems aren’t intuitive. I am thinking of using these systems in 5e in future campaigns. If you get a chance it is definitely worth playing.
How did I miss this game? or did I?
This look very much like a distilled, tweaked version of the classic swedish fantasy roleplaying game "Drakar och demoner" (Dragons and Demons), from mid 80's to early 90's (with its expansions and editions). A game I played alot when I was young.
Most (if not all) of the art in this is actually from that classic core game (probably because this is also swedish and probably from some of the same guys).
The stronghold segment, and some other parts, contains some stuff from the "Drakar och Demoner" expansion "Gigant", that had rules for Strongholds, Lands, Taxes/Income/Expenses, Hirelings, Armies, Battles and more.
This seem to have put some better collected focus on survival though. The old game lacked a cohesive ruleset for that, but it contained parts of it scattered all over (so it was often forgotten or overlocked), even if the backstory/intro and the classes was more or less the same. Its a harsch world, and you are NOT a hero, from the beginning, just a adventurer trying to do a mark, and survive. Now it looks like they actually included a real ruleset, with what you can do, like making camp, resting, forraging etc. The old games had the details (skills), but no frame for how to use it. Now you have. Good.
They also changed the "dice mechanic" to this new one with D6's, and Pushing it, and Willpower (like Mutant Year Zero, and other games from them). Originally it was D100 (%) based, and in later edition changed into D20 system. In my head I think I like this new system.
This brings back memories. I like it. I need to see if I can get this and play it some day.
PS: I miss the Duck-kins though (used to be a playable race). Have to do a homebrew for them. ;)
Cheers.
sounds like a very Conan esque game...Kewl!!!
It definitely does have that Conan sword and sorcery vibe.
Definitely dark fantasy and low(er) magic.
Which I always enjoy.
Could you enjoy this with one DM and one PC playing multiples?
You could.
It seems quite cumbersome. I would love to see some people who are comfortable with the game playing a session.
They send you the product free of charge.
So it's a sponsored video.
TL;DW
Combat-focused, inventory management old D&D converted into a dice pool system. Has some tables and lore. Seems like a good system if you've never played, want combat, and only want to buy one product.
What to steal: Failure = reward later _(which should be in all modern RPGs anyway)_
why do you think that failure should lead to a later reward?
People learn and grow by failing. Binary pass/fail is an archaic and boring dead end.
If you like fail = reward check out dungeon world its a great system and you gain experience when you fail a roll because you learn from your mistakes.
PbtA / Dungeon World is my favourite system =]
It looks like a fine product, but many similar out there. You haven't told my why I would want to play this system over other systems. That said, Symbaroum looks fantastic and I can definitely imagine playing that game.
Thanks for reviewing this.
Here are some random comments:
This game looks like it has some good ideas. None of them are really new though.
It looks simple, beer and pretzels, fun to play and limited in the odd sort of way that many of these modern games are.
But it also seems to incorporate elements of a table-top game, like Gloomhaven or maybe Dark Tower. (Who remembers that?)
It reminds me a bit of Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip to a certain degree from the way that you describe it. The engine is obviously quite a bit different though.
The problem that I have with it is that the game looks too limited in an odd compartmentalized way.
I do not see this game as being old school at all. I see it trying to emulate certain aspects of those kind of games. It looks like it succeeds in some cases and falls short in others.
It seems like they tried to make a boardgame and an RPG for Millennials (sorry guys).
I like that it has skills. I kinda like that it has classes too, a little bit, maybe . . . ok not really. I do not like classes. I like that the characters are not heroes. I think what they meant with that is that it is more Batman than Superman. You seem to be worried about the alignment aspects of that, but when we look at the world, people seem to always be rationalizing some infraction that they committed vs. the pristine codex that they allegedly follow. Just look at the church or the police or the government. Let's face it alignment is mostly just a façade. Every now and then someone does something "good" and that is really cool, but also amazing.
70 spells are ok. That is a good streamlined number to start with. Of course there will be expansions. Games like this always have expansions.
It seems like the pins you down to a generic world that looks like maybe it could change from scenario to scenario. Kind of like a Candyland with variable encounters? Hmm. Not sure I like that either. I suppose it is ok for a few sessions, but what does it have over a game like D&D 1st edition? Simplicity perhaps?
The game takes a lot of admittedly neat ideas and tries to string them together into some kind of a limited beer and pretzels RPG. How effectively it does all that remains to be seen.
Most of these games do not do it very well.
The limitedness bothers me.
I do not see how it has anything over any of the older classic RPG games where a dungeon master could create a rich and dynamic world. Why would I spend my money on this when I could have the former? I think the answer is work. You are working all the time. You just want to get together with some friends and play something without all the prep. This game gives you a good skeleton for that, the question is can you put more meat on the bones or does the game curtail that?
I do like the art!
How did this game hold up after a couple of years. How are the supplements?
The supplements are very very good but keep in mind that most of them are not structured like a D&D5e campaign module, but rather add a whole lot of new adventure locations and encounters to the map (like Raven's Purge which does have a plot but essentially adds a bunch of new locations, or Bitter Reach which is actually an entire new map with all new locations). If you are looking for a supplement that most closely resembles a self-contained adventure location and story, I think the Spire of Quetzel is the closest you will come to it in Forbidden Lands. It is very much a hexcrawl game rather than a grand overaching plot game.
Ah, talking xvart!
From the cover, I was getting Dark Sun mood, pity the setting isn't like that. :(
Thanks Nate! Good review. So I bought the PDF version a while ago to see what all the fuss was about, and found it a little "meh". While I thought some of the mechanics were good (like the monster attacks you mention), I was unimpressed by the writing and also just kept thinking, "yeah, but this is just like the games I used to play in the '80s, so why is it so special". I wonder if it all seems new and different to people who have only experienced 5e. But haven't played it so can't really comment fairly yet.
That makes sense, Michael. I guess I would ask whether the games you used to play in the 80s REALLY had writing, layout, and art that was better than or even equal to this? If you went back to them, would the quality really match a product like Forbidden Lands? Maybe it would, but it's just a thought.
Admittedly, I definitely think a lot of the buzz is from newer folks like myself who find these old school inclusions a bit exotic in this day and age. I'm sure I could find a lot of these things in other old games, but honestly the aesthetics are a turn off for me and I simply find them hard to read (text heavy, hard to decipher, etc.) The old stuff had some charm, but I think book layout and writing has actually come a long way since the 70s/80s. 1E stuff is hard for me to read, and though D&D 2E may have improved it, there are just some things I can't stand about the system, and the book bloat is also a huge turn off.
Most OSR products that I've seen that are trying to re-kindle the old school may have solid systems in place, but the ones I've actually browsed are so rules-light and brief, with lower production value. These are usually by small indie teams, so it's understandable. There are countless other OSR systems that are probably great, but I just lack experience with the genre overall. Still, I think this system actually does have some innovations as well. Just one example -- the way XP is earned is refreshing as it values "getting things done" (old school) along with role-playing your character well (similar to playing to your background for inspiration in 5E). Anyway, that's WAY more than I should have written. Just musing. Thanks for the comment!
Yeah you make some really good points Nate. I think *some* of the games and supplements from back in the day really did have those levels of writing and production values, but I also wonder if my memory is just selectively "piecing together" the best bits from the ones I remember, while quietly ignoring the others? I'm also biased in that I have a personal preference for dense text and Gygaxian prose over what I tend to haughtily refer to as the "dumbed down" nature of some modern gaming systems! So have probably not given Forbidden Lands a fair shot yet. But you're right, it does have some cool innovations, the production values look great, and I'd certainly not pass up on the chance to play it. Anyway thanks for your thoughts!
jesus. just play an enjoy. ffs so much overanalysis.
"Now the level of hatred between each races is pretty obvious, [...] I'm not exactly sure how cohesive a party with multiple kin will be."
If elves can work along side lumberfoots during the End Times, then anything is possible.
Nate are you related to Rhykker? O.o
No. I like him though. :)
This game looks cool as someone who grew up in the 80s but has never gotten into D&D. But, are people actually playing it?
Not sure! I did see a couple actual play streams on RUclips.
It is a niche swedish rpg. People will be playing it just in smaller numbers.
I’m going to play with the wife/kids and friends as soon as it gets hear! We are enjoying Tales from the Loop now. And of course 5e.
Could you play this without magic?
Yes
So the question system is like RIFTS XP system.
The gold has been torn from my books also and I have been very careful with them, they cheaped out with bad quality. =/
I love the world, art and idea!!
But, I dont like the system. Its to simple for a sandbox game. It works for pure storytelling games were its all about the story. But it doesnt belong in this kind of game imo.
This game could have been one of the best newer games out now, but sadly to say it was open, read, tested and will probably never used again. The system killed it for us.
They should have gone with the real basic rpg, that would have been MUCH better. If I have the time, I will try and convert the game to BRPG instead.
What elements make it too simple?
@@lostsanityreturned For example, there is only 4 attributes and you may only have 2-4 points in them from the start, 5 in the one thats most important for your class.
Weapons only have 3 types of damage, 1, 2, or 3 points of damage.
You dont have any HP, you take damage directly to your Strength attribute. So a maxed out fighter with 5 in Strength can take 5 points of damage in Strength. A character with 2 can oly take 2 pts of damage to Strength. So its very leathal as you can imagine. The classes has only 5 skills each and can only have between 0 to 5 from the startä and may only put up to 3pts in one at the start.
And because of its "simpleness" it feels like you rolls feels the same all the time and the characters feels kind of static and there is not much room for modifications and own changes for flavour.
@@TheMerrox Lethality is good (most modern rpg's lack any real challenge tbh - people should run from fights, or avoid them sometimes - characters should die sometimes). How much depends on style of play though. But lack of variability isn't good. You should have a good list of selections. Oddly, coroilis and tales from the loop both use d6 dice pools like this (symbaroum doesn't) and coroilis has an expansive selection of abilities and talents, tales from loop less so. You'd think a game like this would have more than five abilities, and be more like coriolis than tales (especially given the survival element and lethality).
What do you think of kollok1991? (Review Kids on Bikes!!!)
lol...5th edition.
Well, nothing is stoping you from acting heroic, no?
It's just not the main purpose of your story. At least, that's what I gathered.
So, in fact, it might be pretty fun to play a completely heroic character as a fish-out-of-water.
True!
It's okay to play other rpg games D&D doesn't own the world!
I would argue that wider system experience makes for better GMing
@@lostsanityreturned agreed
Great review. The fact that the chance of throwing a hit and a disaster are the same means this game is definitely not for me. Unless I've missed something in the review,. the more dice you throw makes no difference, one die and 10 dice carry the same chance of success and the same chance of failure. Nope, doesn't work.
I love the interior art and I feel that the interior art fits the game perfectly. I can't stand the box art though. 😀 It looks like a science fantasy game and doesn't fit the atmosphere of FL at all imo.
About the animosity between the Kins, In my opinion those write ups are from unreliable narrators. If you read them carefully you'll see that they're written from a single person's perspective and that person clearly has a strong bia for their Kin and the other Kins.
1. The interior art is dope.
2. XP questions and Willpower looks like World of Darkness.
3. 4 attributes like in GURPS or Oko Yrrhedesa (Andrzej Sapkowski's rpg).
4. NO LEVELS - good. Levels sucks. I'm baffled that TSR went down the line with this broken concept.
5. Did you suffer from your dark secret? - Wow. Even Kult reference is there.
6. d6 based. Nice. Recently more games use this type of these, which is most common.
And long known games like Shadowrun or GURPS are based on d6s as well.
7. Actions that are open to anyone at any time during combat. Well... That's what some people call free form. You don't need any table, or rules for that. Just use your common sense. Simple and also the best solution you can have. Players should use their brains not rules. Rules are for GMs only. The better GM describes the scene, the better ideas players can have. Stop using maps and develop your storytelling skills.
8. Dice pool mechanic. World of Darkness, Shadowrun, Sibirpunk, Wiedźmin - gra wyobraźni (Hexer/Witcher - game of imagination, yep. There is a Polish Geralt of Rivia game released in early 2000s that's d6 based and use dice pool mechanic).
9. No "balanced encounters"? Good. Life isn't balanced. Life is savage.
Bad things
1. 10:38 Well... That's not how warhammer looks like. The longer handle, the bigger momentum, the bigger force it has. Impact are shouldn't be as big as on this picture and one end should have a spike for piercing armour. That's a devastating warhammer.
2. Hexmap stickers. R'ly?
3. Villages, castles and dungeons. Wait. What?! No ships, inns, sewers or brothels?
4. Horns on helmets. R'ly? That's as lame as it can be. Plus not wise when going into combat.
Lol 3rd view ooga booga
WTF
You gave a review to a game you haven't run yet? my god man, what merit could you gleam from it without using it?
Wow, I can't wait to play as a halfling, elf, dwarf or orc in a tabletop RPG for the 1000th time! I really admire the work behind this and similar games, but the lack of originality makes me lose any interest I had. The first LotR book is older than both me and my dad, yet the overwhelming majority of fantasy stories and games still use the same characters and settings to this day.
yeah i agree. i personally am not a fan of how ubiquitous tolkien’s idea of elves is in like all fantasy settings. like sure tall people with funny ears is a neat idea but creativity goes a long way when designing races/cultures
To be fair, this is the fourth setting from these publishers to use a version of the game engine. The first was post-apocalyptic mutants, genetically modified animals and robots, the second was Arabian flavoured sci-fi, and the third was kids in the alternative eighties. No elves, halflings, dwarves, or orcs there 🙂
I think animals or elements are better at delivering character for a race. Not all rpg beginners are in Tolkien mythology and at the longer period of time it may be boring.
Marcin Malczewski of course, but it should be pointed out that this game was inspired by 1980’s RPG art, and targetted at players who want an old school experience with modern mechanics. It might not be what you want, but Mutant: Genlab Alpha may be a better fit. The characters there are all enhanced animals.
Good thing this is the sixth offshoot of this engine, so there are other options available.
Also, it handles the themes differently, it might not be your thing but it isn't necessarily lacking originally. They are expanding their ideas out to different genres, there is an 80s fantasy genre that people love that just doesn't get attention these days.
Personally I like myself some human centric historical or alternate history RPG action with high stakes/danger and no demihumans. But not everyone has those tastes or needs to.