Forbidden Lands – A New Take on Classic RPGs

Forbidden Lands offers a fresh take on classic fantasy roleplaying games. In this sandbox survival RPG, you don't play heroes on a quest dictated by others—instead, you are scavengers and rogues determined to make your mark on a cursed world. You will discover lost tombs, fight brutal monsters, wander the wilderness, and if you survive, perhaps build and defend your own stronghold.

It is an open-world survival tabletop RPG, illustrated by the legendary Swedish artist Nils Gulliksson and the equally talented Simon Stålenhag. The game world was penned by acclaimed writer and game designer Erik Granström, with rules designed by the team at Free League, known for games like Mutant: Year Zero, Coriolis: The Third Horizon, and Tales from the Loop RPG.

Nils Gulliksson's illustrations captivated a whole generation of Swedish children in the eighties. For many, Gulliksson remains the gold standard of fantasy artists to this day. His iconic pen-and-ink drawings capture classic fantasy archetypes with a realistic yet wondrous style. Forbidden Lands features both Gulliksson's classic works and brand-new illustrations.

Retro RPG?

What do we mean by a retro RPG? In Forbidden Lands, you play rogues and scoundrels in a ruthless world, but what you do is entirely up to you. This approach to adventuring was quite common in RPGs of the seventies and eighties. You could roam the map freely, discovering its secrets and treasures. Forbidden Lands aims to capture that same atmosphere, but supported by modern game mechanics. This "sandbox" approach gives players the freedom to leave their mark on the world however they see fit—provided they live long enough.

The game's aesthetic and art style were influenced by other retro games and the iconic illustrations of Nils Gulliksson. The rulebooks themselves look like hand-illustrated ancient tomes that seem to have fallen right out of the Forbidden Lands.

Forbidden Lands is, however, a modern game based on award-winning rules and mechanics from Mutant: Year Zero and Tales from the Loop, taken to the next level. This game combines the best of the old and the new to create a fresh, exciting RPG experience like nothing you've seen before.

The Game World

The game world of Forbidden Lands is a vast, remote valley once called the Ravenlands, until it was conquered by the sorcerer Zygofer three centuries ago. When faced with ruthless orcs, he opened dark gates and turned to demons for help. This led to his ruin. Zygofer fell to darkness and seized the throne of the Ravenlands. His daughter, Therania, sat by his side.

To prevent their malignant influence from spreading, the king of the southern lands had a massive wall built in the mountain pass and forbade any talk of what had transpired. Since then, the sorcerer's domain has been known as the Forbidden Lands. Zygofer's minions, the dreaded Rust Brothers, still patrol those regions, but no one has seen the sorcerer himself for many years. Fearful whispers suggest he has transformed into a demonic entity named Zytera.

A small crowd gathered around the beggar from Varassa. They sat quietly in the flickering firelight, listening to his songs. Long into the night, he sang to them of the undead and wolf-folk, of every horror imaginable, and of his deepest fears.

Something lies beyond the mountains, beyond the mist and the howling of wolves.
Something lies beyond the veil, in the woods and the shadow of the spruces.
Something walks, something whispers, calling you and luring you in.
Come to us, if you dare, if you wish to lie in your grave soon.

Today, the Forbidden Lands are a lawless place where demons and dark creatures roam the landscape, while common folk fortify themselves in small, scattered villages. Only fools and the brave, rogues and scoundrels, dare to venture far from home in search of glory and treasure in the ancient ruins.

The diverse and intricate world of Forbidden Lands was written by acclaimed fantasy author Erik Granström. At first glance, it resembles classic fantasy, but as you play, it reveals many surprising twists and secrets. The game doesn't require players to read long historical treatises before starting. Instead, you discover the colorful history of the Forbidden Lands piece by piece during play, through a system of so-called legends.

Rules

The rules of Forbidden Lands are built on the award-winning Year Zero engine, used in games like Mutant: Year Zero, Tales from the Loop RPG, and Coriolis – The Third Horizon. The core mechanic uses a pool of six-sided dice, but in Forbidden Lands, d8s, d10s, and d12s also come into play for powerful artifacts and magical items.

The heart of the game is wilderness survival. Just like in Mutant: Year Zero, if characters neglect to find food and a suitable campsite, their attributes will begin to drop. Combat is fast and furious, with the melee system significantly expanded to include plenty of tactical options, ensuring no two fights are ever the same. Magic is wild, dangerous, and unpredictable.

There is a limited number of attributes and skills, allowing for quick character creation. A diverse selection of talents, however, adds mechanical depth and opens up opportunities for further development. Talents are tiered to provide even more variety and different paths for character growth.

Explore the World Hex by Hex

At the center of the game is a beautiful game map by Tobias Tranell, which depicts the Forbidden Lands in all their glory. The map is divided into ten different terrain types and uses a hex grid to track movement.

Thanks to the map, players can go wherever they want and explore the world as they see fit. The campaign is built modularly using an adventure site system. This ensures the Game Master doesn't have to hold the players' hands, while still making sure they don't miss the story.

Fast and clever rules covering travel, exploration, foraging, hunting, camping, resting, and other activities ensure that every character finds their role in the party. The game also includes a system for generating dangerous obstacles and tense encounters that the Game Master can use to challenge the players at any time.

The game also includes stickers representing key events, adventure sites, and even tombstones for fallen player characters. By placing them on the map, you gradually transform it into a living, personal chronicle of your campaign. (The map is double-sided, so you can start the campaign over.)

Adventure Sites

Forbidden Lands uses an adventure site system. These are locations containing various scenarios that the Game Master can place anywhere on the map. Adventure sites are divided into three categories (village, castle, and dungeon), with symbols for these categories found on many hexes on the map. When players travel to a location marked as a village on the map, the Game Master decides which adventure site to place in that hex.

Each adventure site presents an interesting scenario centered around one location, designed to be played in various ways. Adventure sites include intrigue, characters, treasures, and recommended events. Many of them expand the history of the Forbidden Lands and are connected to the main campaign, known as Raven's Purge, but they can always be played independently and in any order.

Every adventure site comes with a beautifully illustrated map. You can see one example below—the village of Bone-Hollow (map drawn by Niklas Brandt). The main game box contains several complete adventure sites.

Build Your Stronghold

If player characters survive the ancient crypts, with a bit of luck, they might walk away with some gold and other treasures. One day, they might want to invest it in something more permanent—their own stronghold.

Once characters occupy an old castle or dusty dungeon, they can convert it into their own base. Using fast and effective mechanics, they can then develop this stronghold and expand it with additional buildings, such as a forge, mill, garden, or stronger fortifications.

The stronghold is a place to rest between adventures and a safe haven from the monsters roaming the landscape. However, it requires maintenance and can attract the attention of others who want to steal the characters' hard-earned wealth.

Many classic fantasy RPGs suffer from the problem where player characters become disgustingly rich after a few adventures and have nothing to spend their gold on. The stronghold mechanic in Forbidden Lands solves this problem and creates a whole range of new scenarios.

Raven's Purge

Dark forces are awakening in the Forbidden Lands. Zygofer's minions, the dreaded Rust Brothers, still patrol the land, but no one has seen the sorcerer himself for many years. His enemies and allies are beginning to hatch plans. The landscape is waking up after the dissipation of the blood mist that long stifled it, and the deathly silence that has reigned since time immemorial is about to end.

Although players are free to go wherever they want, they can also get entangled in the larger plans bubbling beneath the surface. In the campaign called Raven's Purge, they will hunt for four powerful artifacts adorned with elven gemstones, which together can decide the future of the Forbidden Lands.

Raven's Purge is not a linear story and has no set goals for players to follow. It is more of a rich tapestry of legends, characters, and plots that players can interact with in many different ways. The four mentioned artifacts can be placed in any adventure site, so the Game Master has full control over the length and pacing of the entire campaign.

Playing in Other Worlds

Forbidden Lands has an intricate game world with rich mythology. It is a new take on classic fantasy, and we hope you will enjoy it. At the same time, we realize that many players already have other favorite worlds, whether from other games, books, movies, or home campaigns, and would like to play in them.

That is why we designed the Forbidden Lands rules and the structure of its sandbox campaign to be easily transferable to different settings. With a few minor adjustments, you can easily place adventure sites into other fantasy worlds. All you need is a hex map of the world you want to play in, and you can start.

What's in the Forbidden Lands box?

• Hardcover Player's Guide. Contains rules for quick character creation, ruthless combat, deadly magic, dangerous travel, and building your own stronghold—all easily transferable to other game worlds.
• Hardcover Gamemaster's Guide. Contains a diverse and detailed description of the Forbidden Lands game world, an extensive illustrated bestiary, numerous random encounters, and three complete adventure sites.
• Legends & Adventurers booklet, which will help you flesh out your characters and breathe personality into them.
• Large color map, allowing you to explore the Forbidden Lands as you see fit, hex by hex.
• A sheet of stickers with adventure sites and tombstones, which you can use to turn the game map into a living, timeless record of your adventures.

What you won't find in the box, however, is a dice set—we definitely recommend getting those too; they will come in handy during play (or rather, for rolling). If you want to try the game before buying the box, you can download the free PDF Forbidden Lands – Quickstart from us.

Once you try the game, you might find that your wind-swept rogues and adventurers, or the Game Master themselves, need to expand their forbidden gear. The selection is rich, and you can treat yourself to a stylish yet practical screen, a leather dice cup, a new campaign, and much more.

author Jiří Reiter