Tabletop_Gaming__Issue_27__February_2019

68 February 2019

PLAYED

entire game is set in a kingdom that

was eectively walled o from the rest

of the world and left to die at the claws

of a demonic mist that killed anybody

foolish enough to leave their homes

after dark. Anything resembling a

shining bastion of civilisation has long

since rotted away and countless ancient

manors and treasuries lie empty save

for the dead and the desperate.

e game kicks o a few years

after the blood mist mysteriously

disappeared, leaving the land free to

explore for the rst time in centuries.

How the players shape this dangerous

land is entirely up to them.

While the lore is incredibly

compelling, it does have a few weak

points that might leave readers

scratching their heads, most of which

revolve around the surprisingly limited

impact the blood mist seems to have had.

Many of the backgrounds suggested

in the players’ guide involve travelling

extensively as a child, which in theory

would have been near impossible, and

the towns and villages seem plucked

straight from a conventional dark fantasy

world rather than one where settlements

were forced to survive in near-isolation

for hundreds of years. ese may seem

petty concerns, but the blood mist is

such a fascinating idea that it’s frustrating

when it fails to gel with the details.

is doesn’t change the fact that

Forbidden Land is a beautiful game

that oers a chance for players to

experience something that captures

the feel of old-school adventuring but

still feels fresh. It’s well worth a look

for anyone looking for something

dierent to their fantasy gaming.

RICHARD JANSENPARKES

TRY THIS IF YOU LIKED...

WARHAMMER FANTASY ROLEPLAY: FOURTH EDITION

Forbidden Lands is almost as dark and violent as the world of Warhammer, but

offers a different take on freedom and exploration.

T

he dark dungeons and fog-grey

morality of Forbidden Lands oer

a delightfully old-school take on

the traditional fantasy RPG, creating a

sense of freedom that rewards GMs for

a hands-o approach and allows the

players to truly forge their own destiny.

e game comes to us from Free

League, the Swedish studio probably

best known for 2017’s Tales from the

Loop. ough the tone of Forbidden

Lands is about as far as you can get

from the doe-eyed wonder of that RPG,

it shares the same retro approach and

charming take on childhood memories

• in this case the awe and excitement
  so many of us felt when we rst
  encountered fantasy gaming.
  Almost every aspect of the game,
  from the beautiful black-and-white
  design to the enormous map found in
  the starter set, sparks happy memories
  of leang through old D&D books or
  daydreaming epic adventures sparked
  by Lord of the Rings. e titular
  Forbidden Lands are stued with all

the magic swords, abandoned castles

and horrible monsters you could wish

for, and the rules are designed around

allowing the players to explore and

quest to their hearts’ content.

While it’s certainly aiming for an

old-school feel, the mechanics that

propel the game along are thoroughly

modern and supported by a few rather

fascinating innovations. e core

ruleset has stats and skills that feed

into a dice pool that will feel

very familiar to anyone who

has played other Free

League games; even

newcomers should

be able to get a handle on

things within a few minutes.

Perhaps the biggest quirk to the

system is the complete absence of hit

points or any other kind of health score.

Instead, any damage you take cuts into

your stats, so physical damage reduces

your strength while emotional trauma

slashes away at your empathy. As you

rely on these stats to defend yourself from

damage in the rst place, a battle can

very quickly push you right to the edge.

is may not be such a huge

problem, however, as forcing your

character to the limit of their abilities

is the only way to gain ‘willpower’ –

the resource used to perform special

abilities and cast spells. e most

practical way to generate willpower is

to re-roll a failed check, which comes

at the risk of taking damage while

boosting reserves of inner strength.

It’s a strange system that seems ripe

for abuse, but once you get it onto the

table it works surprisingly smoothly.

e fact that magic is a product of

desperation and deance in the face of

death ts well into the world, which is

another way that Forbidden Lands sets

itself apart from the crowd.

e setting, and indeed the overall

tone, manages to be both unrelentingly

bleak and strangely liberating. e

Old-school roleplaying for a modern world

FORBIDDEN LANDS

Designer: Härenstam, Granström, Granath, Karlén, Kostulas| Artist: Gulliksson, Stålenhag, Brandt

(^) PLAY IT? YES
It’s like someone took hazy childhood
memories of a classic D&D game
and mixed them with a dash of
bleak Scandinavian darkness.
208 11+ £38