Watch This Before Running Forbidden Lands
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 ก.พ. 2023
- This is not a review or explanation of mechanics for the survival fantasy hex crawl Forbidden Lands by Free League Publishing. Instead, I share 5 things that will help you avoid the pitfalls I've run into when game mastering multiple sessions, and two campaigns. Learn from my mistakes!
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FORBIDDEN LANDS GOODIES
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Forbidden Lands core (print) - amzn.to/3E9OLyM
Forbidden Lands core (pdf) - bit.ly/3Ba4RGo
GM Screen - amzn.to/3YB57IW
Spire of Quetzel (print) - bit.ly/3KgVuet
Spire of Quetzel (pdf) - bit.ly/3lE1T9h
Crypt of the Mellified Mage (print) - bit.ly/3IsaHru
Crypt of the Mellified Mage (pdf) - bit.ly/41b6FLI
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#freeleague #frialigan #hexcrawl #ttrpg #gamemaster - เกม
Agree? Disagree? If you’ve run Forbidden Lands what has worked for you?
How did you use a virtual tabletop? I'm running this game online and I was going to just use the paper map and show it with a camera
@@orangeops8875 using Foundry VTT, i created a scene. Implemented fog of war and some smaller images to mark their route.
Very interesting points. Running my first Forbidden Lands campaign right now, one year and ~30 sessions in.
** I'm using the legends about adventure sites and artifacts from the books (modified some of them), and I've also made a lot of new legends from the GM-book on kin, factions and history. I let the players roll a lore check once every session to see if they remember an old legend or hear it from someone they meet (they pick a random one). I limit how many legends each player can get based on the character's lore skill (and I also give 1 xp to the entire group for every five legends they learn). I think it's a pretty fun way of doing it. My players just recently managed to puzzle together the history of Ravensland, though the legends leave a lot of details out.
** I let the players have the physical map and put the stickers on it, mostly because they were super excited about having a cool map to move around on. But I made them finding the map a story thing. First they found a strange clue and small map that led them to the actual map. Unbeknownst to my players, the map was in fact planted by one of the campaigns main "antagonists" - Merigall - just to see if anyone resourceful and interesting would find it and use it. If I would run the campaign again I would probably print out a version of the map without the adventure sites and (if possible) make my own stickers. The map in photoshop format, so you can hide/move adventure sites, can be found on free league's forum (can't remember exactly where though).
** When? Started the campaign around 5 years after the bloodmist. Didn't think it through, just went with what was in the books. But it has worked fairly well. Factions will have had time to establish themselves and started plotting, and the descriptions in the books kinda of make it sound as other factions and peoples are not entirely unknown to each other. But I would probably start a little earlier if I would run the campaign again.
** Where? Started the campaign in the middle of nowhere where the PCs had just met, as they came from very different places and wanted their own backstories. Next time I'll probably do something else, like the PCs are all convicts/exiles from Alderland dropped off on the north side of the Iron Wall.
** Prepping - yes, partly agree. I prep a lot just to have many adventures sites to choose from, and I try to ask my players after each session where they plan on going next. But I also use a lot (A LOT) of random encounters, have even made a google sheets randomizer with hundreds of encounters. Many sessions when I've planned something they've been completely sidetracked by random encounters - which I really like, whatever I prepped can wait until they get there.
Good stuff, Felosopher.
I would say that Ravenlands isn't a place of swift information exchange. Let the party come to a village who still believe the Blood mist to be a thing. And are extremely suspicious or even hostile to the characters being able to traversse the lands.
The Ravenlands are dark. There are terrors hiding in the dark that are way worse than the blood mist and the party knows absolutely nothing of these dangers. As nobody has encountered these denisens of the night. Make the dark terrifying.
The players have a Dark Secret but it's not something they can actually 'use', more like be exposed to it, that can net some XP. But the Pride is the one that the player can actually 'use' if the situation allows for it.
THIS ^
Oh, and the Ravens Purge campaign book is amazing. There is even more of the back story in it. It extremely well fleshed out, pun intended. And it will last several sessions and by the time the party is done with the campaign you will have created a very living world together with the party. There will be no shortages of plot twist, advernture sites and adverseries. If I had the chance to do anything different with my Forbidden Lands it would have been to buy the Raven bundle.
Agreed on Raven's Purge.
I love this RPG, and the unique exploration/world generation. I usually create my own worlds, but was interested in using the game contents including The Hollows adventure which upon browsing, looked okay. This is what I regret: To run the adventure you have to read the unnecessarily long and dry history of the world. It's torture. If it was condensed to five pages, great, but no, it's a high school history reading assignment. I had a blast traveling to the site, watching the world unfold, but The Hollows adventure required reading is a punishment.
Felt the same, so I figured "nobody really knows that stuff, but I'll eat away at it and start to implement it little by little in every session. Kinda like eating an elephant.
Absolutely love this! 🙂 Such a great game! Letting the story unfold, discovering the world together (GM and PCs) is such fun. Also... This game is pretty friendly to running it as a solo RPG!
RIGHT?!
we are playing dragon bane (by the same company) currently and interested in forbidden lands, so thank you for posting. very helpful video and clearly explained!
Good stuff, Sean. I love Forbidden Lands, but there *are* some tripwires that can send a GM stumbling if they aren't aware of them...
Great advice! Going to be running this game in the new year, and this was super helpful. Subbed!
Hope I hear how it goes. Good luck!
Super interesting tips! Loved the prisoners tip and the one about the history of the land. I haven't played it yet and I think that I will follow almost all of your tips. But knowing my players I think that the only tip that I won't follow is the second one, they would love to see the whole map, it is beautiful! I don't mind about they knowing that around the mountains there is a ruin, the troubles are going to come anyway in the way to get there hehe. Also it could give me some hints about what to prep before session.
Showing the map, I get it. Just tell them, "maps aren't terrain!"
If your players don't like the stronghold mechanics in forbidden lands, you can use the Ark rules from Mutant Year Zero.
It's very similar in concept but you make skill rolls in stead of keeping track of resources.
Some light rule hacking is needed but it's not too hard.
I really recommend looking around at tye other Year Zero Engine games for ideas and house rules.
Good tip on the Ark rules, UM. Thanks!
the prisoner way seems like the most believable way to get so many different kins together in one place.
Certainly one way.
The Gods actually represent a bit of a stopping point to playing the game outside of the Raven lands.
Nice video! Thanks!
Thank you. This is very useful advice.
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks Sean, your stuff is always great. This game and Free League's T2000 and Blade Runner will probably be the next non-narrative dice game I run, specifically because of you. I loved listening to Gaming and B S (from episode 1, of course) and watching your personal journey from on-the-train to playing to see what happened. Mirrored my own experience, in all honesty. I haven't listened to the Forbidden Lands APs you've posted, just yet, but wonder how you found the transition from narrative dice back into other systems? Free League games to seem to have the mechanics to drive the story in unpredictable places, which is what brings me to my own table weekly.
Thanks for sticking with us/me. And good to hear from you. RE: transition, not bad. Remember, I am a fan of the Star Wars genesys system, so I like it. There is a certain level of simplicity with YZE games that I've to appreciate.
@@RPGSean RE: Star Wars: Oh, I know. Listening to you describe the dice to Brett was great and really well done. I'd love to get in on one of your Rogue One style games, especially having finished Andor. Thanks again for doing these.
That was a lot of help, thank you!
Are you running or playing the game yet, Joel?
@@RPGSean Just had session 0 yesterday and it was great, so just starting out the campaign
Thanks for this. As a fan of low magic systems, I like the system, but wanted to use my own world.
I've actually been pondering the same points covered in this video, as FB is the next game I will be running for my group. After watching this, I think I'll be sticking with a fog of war for this campaign. I also wanted to start the players lost and desparate to find civilization from the start, but still have some shared history. I've settled on having the group generate a homeland with it's own faded history and peoples and then burn it all to the ground as the starting point of the campaign. Give them all some juicy survivors guilt. I think I'll now add some knowledge of legends based on their backstories and personal goals as suggested here as well. Good stuff.
Sounds fantastic. Best of luck!
I've only ever run sci fi and post-apoc as settings (Star Wars, Alien RPG, Numenera, Mutant Year Zero etc). I'm super keen to give this setting a try and give my players a pure emergent sandbox to jump into with my group!
Perfect advice.
I would also recommend to run old fantasy adventures.
Since the game is osr it is basically built for 80's adventures.
The game is based on rhe artwork from one of the most loved Swedish rpg artists and looking through old Swedish adventures I keep finding "forbidden lands art" all over.
For dnd lovers the Greyhawk setting is probably a perfect fit just as an example.
Or go all out and make a Columbus style game where a new continent is found and the players are settlers
For sure! Adapt to your own setting, absolutely.
Just bought the game and thanks for the tips!
Hope you enjoy it!
Nice ! Thanks for these tips !
Hope the help, Michel. Are you running this yet?
@@RPGSean Not yet, but I’m preparing a campaign.
@@c4s4 hope it goes well.
I think some terrain features may be visible depending where you are. And some locations general direction would be known such towering mountain range while you are on a flat plain. Unless your village is completely illiterate, some information would be passed down such as rough maps of the region, albeit it might not be known to the players at the start. Rivers you would know that trade went up and down the river at one time. Ruins on the map could be passed down with folklore 'the Ivory Tower where good King Omen sat'. Even during the Bronze Age collapse where a lot of history and records were lost in a short amount of time and myth reigns, where cities went from the coast to the top of hills and mountains they didn't forget that the Mediterranean Sea stopped existing in their minds. Non-human races might not be known as Orc/Elf/Dwarf/Halfling, but the "Sea People" or whatever story of telephone that occured.
My justification of not seeing too far off - trees or depressions. After all, the map does not have contour lines. :-) But, hey, whatever works!
I like all advice you put in the episode but mostly about starting with very tiny outpost that is not a full village or a safezone for PCs.
I am planning to lounch my own Actual Play on YT in Polish and Its a great starting idea for me.
🍻 powodzenia!
The dotted line for the parties way is neat. is this freehand-drawn on the map?
It's a hex with dotted lines. I have a couple with transparency. Just drop it and rotate it in Foundry.
@@RPGSean sounds like a lot of work ;) But looks really neat.
You said, "Hommlet" instead of "hamlet". LOL. That's geeky as hell.
Do you happen to know a good additional encounter list? The one in the game with only 36 encounters is kinda small. And it's even for all types of terrain in total.
Not sure if there's any third party stuff on Drivethru. Here's one: www.drivethrurpg.com/product/405898/d66-Encounters-on-the-Road-for-Forbidden-Lands?affiliate_id=457476
I think those 36 encounters are intended to be just a starting point, rather than the only options. Whenever I roll one of these encounters that the players have already met with, I just use it as a suggestion for the type of creature or encounter and make something with a similar theme up on the spot (or use the encounter creation rules to randomize something).
Once we get to a point that at least half of the special encounters have been met (which will be a while; 36 takes a surprising amount of time to get through) then a single expansion book (like Book of Beasts or Raven's Purge) will supply a fresh list of 36 additional encounters.
Actually I couldn't help myself and already got Book of Beasts before we even started the campaign, so that's 72 encounters ready to go. And I'm almost certain I'll get Raven's Purge very soon, so that'll make 108. Tons of content.
This is always nice, but I've been playing FBL for 2-3 years, I'd love to hear some deeper exploration of the game.
Appreciate the feedback. Thank you. Given your experience, do you find your approach to be more systematic - 'journey, new hex, roll for encounter, next!' ? Or, are you more freestyle?
@@RPGSean Wouldn't call it systematic, nor totally freestyle. I GM'd Raven's Purge so I wanted to keep the focus on the story instead of diluting it with Random Encounters. What I did was look for ways to integrate their Mishaps into campaign events. For example when their Make Camp mishap was 'Spreading fire' and they were on their way to Amber's Peak, I turned it into the related event where the Campfire comes to life and became a panicked burning golem (seriously traumatized my players with that one). A random squirrel eating your provisions? That squirrel had yellow eyes and the players immediately accused it of being Merigall, and I went along. When Zertorme rolled 66 on a magic mishap, he got pulled into Churnog, but returned demonified some weeks later at the battle for Vond. So I respect the random nature of the game, in fact I love how it threw even me some curve-balls as the GM, but I never let random encounters rule the day. I think the ones in the GMG are pretty bad, but the ones in Blood March are much better integrated in the story, and I plan to use them a lot. Blood March will be me settling into my role as a GM again, but with a much more hardened group, and I plan to let go of my wrangled approach to Purge in favor of a true open world in Blood March.