Exploring Forbidden Lands – A Preview of The Free League’s New Fantasy RPG

Connorsrpg · Sep 20, 2017

Been thinking, you could almost run YZE game straight from a PC sheet from any other game

Eg. D&D. Instead of the mods adding to a d6, it is the amount of d6 you roll. There is a close correlation.

We love having the 3 different colours for dice too. Even though Coriolis just pooled them all, for our Star Wars conversion we still roll Attribute, Skill and Gear dice.

I hope Forbidden Lands keeps this up.

Zarithar · Sep 20, 2017

I'm loving the artwork!

Staffan · Sep 21, 2017

Connorsrpg said:
We love having the 3 different colours for dice too. Even though Coriolis just pooled them all, for our Star Wars conversion we still roll Attribute, Skill and Gear dice. I hope Forbidden Lands keeps this up.

They're pooled in Tales from the Loop as well, and I guess they will be in this.

In Mutant Year Zero, the different colors mean different things when it comes to the decay of characters and their stuff. Green dice come from the mutant's training and practice, and there's no risk in pushing those. Yellow dice come from the mutant's own nature, and pushing those to their limit can take its toll (shown by taking trauma on pushed rolls where yellow dice come up ones). And finally, black dice are the mutant's gear, which when pushed tends to break.

In Coriolis, the PCs aren't mutants ravaged by chaotic Rot. They're people in a more-or-less functioning society, and for the most part using proper gear. So they don't have the same "push" mechanic as in MYZ - instead, there is a greater reliance on faith, so the push mechanic is represented by prayer (and the prayer gets balanced by the Dark Between the Stars getting stronger). And in Tales from the Loop, you have a small number of free pushes (fewer the older you get), and in order to push beyond those you get various sorts of trauma that require help, time, and comfort in order to get over.

So I don't expect that Fria Ligan will separate out stats, skills, and gear for Forbidden Lands. I do however expect that they will come up with a new twist on the push mechanic.

(That said, I'm not a super-big fan of their house system, mostly because I feel characters are too incompetent. Even a person with maxed stat and skill (5+5) only has about a 5-in-6 chance of a success without pushing, and I feel that's too low. And a starting character doing something that they're supposed to be good, but not specialized, at only has about a 60% chance.)

Ancalagon · Sep 22, 2017

Intriguing. That cover art is absolutely phenomenal, I love it.

That being said, more system details are needed. Saying "it's based on another system X" isn't helpful. It's like telling someone that Stilton cheese tasted like a milder Roquefort... that doesn't help if you haven't tasted Roquefort!

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M.L. Martin · Sep 22, 2017

It looks like a quality product, but I could go for years (at least) without seeing another gaming product where the PCs "are not heroes, but raiders and rogues" in a world where "there is no real good or evil ... Everyone has their own agenda and the PCs are adventurers, scoundrels and rogues looking to survive and thrive in a harsh world. "

Staffan · Sep 24, 2017

Ancalagon said:
Intriguing. That cover art is absolutely phenomenal, I love it.

That being said, more system details are needed. Saying "it's based on another system X" isn't helpful. It's like telling someone that Stilton cheese tasted like a milder Roquefort... that doesn't help if you haven't tasted Roquefort!

Both Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis, and Tales from the Loop use a more-or-less common system for task resolution, where you roll a number of d6 equal to a stat + a skill (both maxing at 5 for humans). Each 6 is a success. All three systems have the option to re-roll non-successes at a cost, though what that cost is varies from game to game: in MYZ it's the risk of hurting yourself and/or your gear, in Coriolis it's giving the GM a Darkness point they can later use to insert all sorts of badness into the game, and in Tales it's either a luck point or taking a Condition (essentially a persistent -1 die to all rolls until you get an opportunity to remove it).

All three games use the same four basic stats (not sure about the English translations, but they are essentially Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Empathy (combining aspects of Wisdom and Charisma)), and a fairly short skill list (MYZ has 12 common skills plus one for each class, and Coriolis has 16 skills). You also have Talents, either giving you new abilities or letting you use old ones in new ways. Beyond that, the games vary quite a bit from one another.

Redthistle · Sep 24, 2017

BrockBallingdark said:
I hate Fria Ligan.

Correction... my wallet hates Fria Ligan. I've been on every KS they have had and here I go again!

Ahhh ... our wallets are kindred.

Redthistle · Sep 24, 2017

Staffan said:
Both Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis, and Tales from the Loop use a more-or-less common system for task resolution, where you roll a number of d6 equal to a stat + a skill (both maxing at 5 for humans). Each 6 is a success. All three systems have the option to re-roll non-successes at a cost, though what that cost is varies from game to game: in MYZ it's the risk of hurting yourself and/or your gear, in Coriolis it's giving the GM a Darkness point they can later use to insert all sorts of badness into the game, and in Tales it's either a luck point or taking a Condition (essentially a persistent -1 die to all rolls until you get an opportunity to remove it).

All three games use the same four basic stats (not sure about the English translations, but they are essentially Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Empathy (combining aspects of Wisdom and Charisma)), and a fairly short skill list (MYZ has 12 common skills plus one for each class, and Coriolis has 16 skills). You also have Talents, either giving you new abilities or letting you use old ones in new ways. Beyond that, the games vary quite a bit from one another.

Excellent summary. Tak!

Ancalagon · Sep 24, 2017

Staffan said:
Both Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis, and Tales from the Loop use a more-or-less common system for task resolution, where you roll a number of d6 equal to a stat + a skill (both maxing at 5 for humans). Each 6 is a success. All three systems have the option to re-roll non-successes at a cost, though what that cost is varies from game to game: in MYZ it's the risk of hurting yourself and/or your gear, in Coriolis it's giving the GM a Darkness point they can later use to insert all sorts of badness into the game, and in Tales it's either a luck point or taking a Condition (essentially a persistent -1 die to all rolls until you get an opportunity to remove it).

All three games use the same four basic stats (not sure about the English translations, but they are essentially Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Empathy (combining aspects of Wisdom and Charisma)), and a fairly short skill list (MYZ has 12 common skills plus one for each class, and Coriolis has 16 skills). You also have Talents, either giving you new abilities or letting you use old ones in new ways. Beyond that, the games vary quite a bit from one another.

Thank you for the reply. How does combat work?

Staffan · Sep 24, 2017

Ancalagon said:
Thank you for the reply. How does combat work?

It might vary a bit between games, but here's how it works in MYZ:

1. Initiative = d6+Dex. Can't remember if we rerolled each round or not, but I don't think we did.
2. Attack roll is a skill check, usually either Strength + Fight or Dexterity + Shoot. Most weapons give 1-3 dice as a bonus.
3. Opponent can defend as an action, rolling a similar check which removes successes from the attacker.
4. On a success, deal the weapon's base damage. Additional successes can either increase damage or do extra stuff (knock prone, deal damage as stress instead, etc.). If the opponent is wearing armor, they roll dice equal to the armor's rating and reduces damage by that much.

Now here's an area where I know the systems differ. In MYZ, all trauma directly affects one of your stats: damage reduces Strength, stress reduces Dexterity, confusion reduces Intelligence, and doubt reduces Empathy. This causes a death spiral, since taking damage means your Strength gets reduced which then means you'll be worse at fighting. Coriolis, OTOH, has hit points separate from stats. Not sure about Tales - I don't think you're supposed to fight per se in that game, but there are a number of Conditions that can reflect damage.