Forbidden Lands RPG is a new take on traditional fantasy roleplaying by Free League Publishing. That’s the company behind Mutant Year Zero and Tales from the Loop.
In the game, players take on the roles of rogues and raiders, not heroes, who are brave and bold enough to carve out their names in a cursed world. The most successful of these renegades may go on to found a stronghold to defend from rivals.
The game, as fans of Free League Publishing would expect, looks lovely with the box set offering faux leather covers and supported by a chunky hardback adventure called Raven’s Purge, a GM screen, a unique dice set and even a pack of cards.
The main rules include a ‘Legends & Adventurers booklet’, a huge full-colour map and a sheet with stickers for adventure sites and gravestones so you can transform that map into a permanent record of the characters’ adventures.
Forbidden Lands raised over a quarter of a million dollars in a Kickstarter campaign which made it the third largest RPG funding tabletop in the world that year.
The survival fantasy uses the same game design that made Free League’s other games, titles like Symbaroum and Corilos: The Third Horizon, so successful. Simon Stålenhag and Nils Gulliksson have illustrated for it and fantasy author Erik Granström helped create the in-game lore. Designers Patrick Stuart, Ben Milton and Chris McDowall all contributed adventures.
Raven’s Purge for Forbidden Lands and accessories
In support of the main rules is the 224-paged hardback Raven’s Purge. This book is a sandbox full of legends, locations, characters and events for the protagonists of the game to explore and encounter.
It is said that the first six elves of the Forbidden Lands – the ones who planted the trees, drew the furrows of the rivers and gave the animals their home – after completing their mission, had their rubies gathered in the royal crown,
Stanengist , the name of which means “The Hanging Stones.” In thecrown they rested deservedly, but at the same time, kept watch over their creation and gave advice to their descendants.For a long time, the crown was worn by the kings of the land and granted them the power to keep the kingdom intact, but sometime right before the humans arrived in Ravenland, the thief Merigall stole three of the stones from
Stanengist , and the land has been sundered ever since. Whoever re-assembles the stones in the crown and places it on her head shall according to legend gain the power to rally all kin and rule over the Forbidden Lands.
The stonesinger Brander of Bynd is said to have received a vision from the god Huge in which he saw the lost elven rubies set into thescepter of a king, thejewelry of a queen, and a sword that slays giants.
The GM screen uses the cover art from Raven’s Purge, a four-sectioned collection of 3mm thick hardback. The dice aren’t a standard set; there’s four base d6, three skull d6, two gear d6, one artifact d8 and one artifact d10. These are the polyhedral that best reflect the rules. Lastly, the card deck of 55 contains 22 artifact cards, 8 mount cards, 14 combat cards, 10 initiative cards and 1 reference card.
Where can you buy the Forbidden Lands RPG
You can buy the PDF today from DrivethruRPG via Free League Publishing’s account. There’s;
You can also buy directly from Free League’s web store. They’re based in Sweden and charge in US dollar.
There’s an alternative vendor if you’re happier shopping in Stirling and from the UK. Longtime partner Modiphius Entertainment is also shipping the game.
