Forbidden Lands - early review

 

This is my review of Forbidden Lands so far. Currently I've played in one convention game, a session zero for character creation and rules overview and then a full four hour session. This is also from the player point of view as I'm not running this one. 

The setting I know so far. Very nice backdrop about a world after what is basically magical post apocalypse. Night travel was impossible due to a red mist that would kill anyone except for very few. So isolation set in on towns and villages. After centuries (?) of this it finally lifted without warning. Now folks are moving out into the world again and seeing what is left. 

I really like this. Instead of being front loaded with a huge world of different kingdoms and all sorts races and all the political bullshit you get something basic. The more you explore, the more you find out. Makes getting into the game much easier from a player stand point. As a GM this would give you a lot more freedom to do things as you please. 

For the record I'm playing a Half Elf Sorcerer who specializes in Death Magic. 

As for the mechanics, it's the Year Zero Engine with a lot of twists. Usually you use D6's for everything (there are times for a couple of others but we haven't ran into that yet), three different colors of D6's. White for attributes, red for skills and black for gear bonus. 6's are successes, you can push rolls like other YZE games, and take conditions or temporary attribute damage. But failing can hurt you in different ways depending on which dice the ones were rolled on.

This makes you really way out when to push rolls and when not to. Except that I need Willpower to cast magic, and you get willpower by pushing rolls. So yeah I pushed more often than I should have. Took some temporary attribute damage a few times. But it was fun.

Everything just works smoothly once you get the dice mechanics down. 

All in all I'll give it two thumbs up. A lot of fun and we were all ready to play the next session. After we get a few more games in I'll post a follow up review and talk about how it works on a longer term. 

Magic Items - Automatic Candle Snuffers

Automatic candle snuffers. I didn't know these existed until a few years ago. They have been around for quite some time as well. So of course we need some of these with magical effects. 

Automatic Candle Snuffers

1 – A sleep spell is cast when the candle is snuffed.

2 – Creates a sphere of silence when it closes that lasts for four hours.

3 – A one use snuffer that activates a fireball spell stored inside when it closes. Of course it destroys itself in the process.

4 – Causes all other flames within twenty feet to extinguish when it closes.

5 – When open and on a candle it slows the burning process and doubles the candles burn time.

6 – When on a burning candle it purifies the air in the room.

7 – When on a burning candle it causes the light to be twice as bright without making it burn faster.

8 – Causes the candle it is on to burn with a wonderful scent that calms anyone in the same room.

9 – When a person lights the candle it is on everyone in the room is suddenly enthralled and will listen to anything they have to say while it burns.

10 – Will cause the candle to emit a toxic gas when it’s burning.