Blog: Coping with the Blurring within #ttrpg Game Engines
TL;DR some musings on the challenges I've found with the multiple variations of #2d20 and the #yearzeroengine. Does anyone else find the tweaks to mechanics tend to cause some blurring and confusion in play with folks that have played multiple versions? Would a quick reference on how they vary from the SRD help?
https://delta-pavonis.blogspot.com/2025/05/coping-with-blurring-within-game-engines.html
Teilzeithelden: NEWS: „Invincible“ als Rollenspiel: Free League kündigt Superhero-TTRPG an
Superheld*innen-Fans aufgepasst: Invincible bekommt ein eigenes Tabletop-Rollenspiel! Free League und Skybound bringen das actiongeladene Universum von Robert Kirkmans Kult-Comic an den Spieltisch – mit der bewährten Year Zero-Engine. Das Kickstarter-Projekt startet bald, und erste Details versprechen ein episches Erlebnis voller Drama, Kämpfe und unerwarteter Wendungen.
Dieser Beitrag wurde von Roger Lewin geschrieben
#Pnpde #AdamBradford #ComicAdaption #CoryWalker #FreeLeague #Invincible #Kickstarter #PenPaperIdeenGedanken #PrimeVideo #Rollenspiel #RyanOttley #Skybound #Superhelden #SuperheldenRollenspiel #TomasHärenstam #TTRPG #YearZeroEngine
Ich habe am Wochenende mal wieder #Vaesen geleitet und es war wieder sehr schön. Ich mag dieses Spiel, wegen seinem einzigartigen Setting und Flair, und ich mag generell die #YearZeroEngine. Zu Weihnachten habe ich das #AlienRPG Starter Set geschenkt bekommen, aber was ich wirklich gern mal wieder spielen würde, wäre #Coriolis. #Dragonbane schaffe ich hoffentlich auch noch mal und irgendwann muss ich mal was mit #DieVerbotenenLande machen.
Ich spiele leider viel zu selten Year Zero Spiele.
On Tuesday, Knight Errant Media will launch the Titan Effect RPG Zero. The game is a new version of Titan Effect powered by Free League Publishing’s #YearZeroEngine https://www.geeknative.com/169911/titan-effect-comes-to-the-year-zero-engine/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=fedica-GNBlogWave1
I'm one session away from wrapping up a #TalesFromtheLoop "mystery" I've been running for my childhood friends for the past 6 months. (We play short sessions online very infrequently.) I made HEAVY modifications to the Recycled Boy, the adventure that ships with the Starter Set. Overall, it's been a great experience! The game runs on a stripped-down version of #FreeLeague's #yearzeroengine. It's simple, elegant and non-tactical. I've learned a lot in the process! Highly recommend. #ttrpg
So Westerns came up repeatedly when I asked last night which genres were underrepresented in the TTRPG space. Just a FYI, there's a traditional Western TTRPG Kickstarting right now. It's called Tales of the Old West and it's based on the Year Zero Engine.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/effekt/tales-of-the-old-west
Folk Horror fans unite!
Kids in the Attic arbeiten an einem #sleepyhollow RPG unter Verwendung der #yearzeroengine und ich finde, es sieht gut aus...
"Sleepy Hollow" is a Year Zero Engine powered TTRPG from Kids in the Attic Games of folk horror and history #yearzeroengine https://www.geeknative.com/168259/sleepy-hollow-kids-in-the-attic-fund-folk-horror-ttrpg/
Year Zero Engine fans: do you have any opinions on dice pools Vs step dice?
Any thoughts on the probability (EG chance of success at a given level of skill, etc) of one Vs the other?
It's live, don't forget to back and share or even if you can't back please share!
A Year Zero Engine tabletop Roleplaying Game, strugglin' for your big dream in the American West from @713028
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/effekt/tales-of-the-old-west
Started tinkering yesterday and made some headway. I think there's some potential there. But I do need to think about how to include the various GURPS advantages / disadvantages, combine them with the career talents from Alien RPG, and figure out a way to use the stress mechanic in a way that fits the setting (and tone of the game).
But I already have some ideas on how that might be accomplished.
Alien RPG 2e (and the Rapture Protocol) is screaming towards us #scifi #xenomorph #yearzeroengine https://www.geeknative.com/167727/alien-rpg-2e-and-the-rapture-protocol-is-screaming-towards-us/
I've got this silly goal for the year of running or playing 20 new-to-me #TTRPG games.
I did 10 last year.
Newest is #AvatarLegends this Saturday, which will bring me up to 17.
3 left!
I am kind of running out of games I'm interested in!
Still on my list:
- #DoctorWhoRPG
- Maybe #KultDivinityLost
- Maybe #AchtungCthulhu
I'm trying #YearZeroEngine, #PbtA, #2d20, #OSR games. Leaning towards rules-light.
I've been running #Dragonbane battle simulations for the past few weeks. I am so impressed with all the elegant touches and how smoothly it runs. Folding in the #YearZeroEngine roll pushing is terrific, too, both in terms of mechanics and roleplaying. #FreeLeague
New blog post on the Wongery: The Making of a Monster
https://www.wongery.com/blog/Making
(Which is not so much about designing a monster, but rather about all the things I have to do before I can put monster stat blocks up on the Wongery. Sorry if the title is a little misleading.)
#worldbuilding #wongery #monster #RPGs #roleplaying #RPG #DungeonsAndDragons #DnD #BRP #BasicRoleplaying #EABA #GURPS #YearZeroEngine #YZE #Pathfinder #SavageWorlds
I picked up Forbidden Lands at PAXU back in 2022, and read it in early 2023. It’s been sitting on my shelf since then, floating about in limbo on my “to review and try” list. Now, its time has come and I’m ready to delve into Free League’s gritty fantasy system.
The Setting
I describe Forbidden Lands setting as, “Take The Silmarillion, and remove more of the hope.” The game is set ten generations after a series of catastrophic wars and betrayals which devastated society. During that time the Blood Mist caused the death of anyone caught away from their homes when darkness fell, so the world became small. The game opens soon after the Blood Mist has lifted and the world is open to exploration once again.
Core Mechanics
Forbidden Lands ports over the Year Zero Engine from Mutant: Year Zero. As it’s a dice pool system players are recommended to have between ten and fifteen six-sided dice (d6), in three distinct colors. The game also requires one eight-sided die (d8), one ten-sided die (d10), and one twelve-sided die (d12)–these other dice come into play as players find cool artifacts or increase their ranks for different talents.
The different color d6s represent the different wells from which the dice will be drawn.
The first are base dice, which correspond to one of the four attributes the characters have–strength, agility, wits, and empathy.
The second color represents skill dice. There are sixteen different skills in the game, and each of the skills is linked to one of the four attributes.
Attribute and skill ranks are assigned via point buy, with the starting number of points determined by a character’s age. Younger characters have more attribute points, while older characters get more skill points.
The third dice color represents gear. Each tool a player uses, like a rope to climb or a weapon to attack, has a gear bonus number.
Dice pools are created by taking the number of base and skill dice for the applicable skill, then adding in any gear dice for tools being used in the attempt. If a character has no dice in the skill they may still make an attempt with it, but will only use the base dice to do so.
Forbidden Lands also will sometimes indicate modifiers for a roll, like +1 or +2. Unlike many other systems, however, these modifiers do not get added to the total of the roll. Rather, they indicate the number of extra skill dice the player adds to the pool.
Once the pool is formed the player rolls, if any dice come up with a 6 the attempt is successful. Additional 6s will add some added benefit set by the skill, or will inflict extra damage in combat.
If no 6s are rolled the attempt fails and some narrative consequence must occur. If players are feeling desperate they may choose to push their roll. If they choose to do so every 6 and every 1, excluding skill dice, is set aside. The rest of the dice are then re-rolled, additional 6s are added to the impact of the attempt and 1s from both rolls become activated.
For every 1 rolled on a base die the character takes one point of damage to the attribute used in the roll. This reduces the number of base dice used for future attempts until the character has a chance to heal. Should a character’s attribute pool ever be reduced to zero they are broken. The character will become incapable of continuing on the journey in some way and will suffer a critical injury–each attribute details different narrative consequences. Any sort of damage in Forbidden is consequential, so players have to learn to avoid it if at all possible!
Every 1 rolled on a gear die reduces its bonus by 1. When the bonus reaches 0 the gear is damaged and needs to be repaired before it can be used again. This makes pushing a roll for an attack even more nerve-wracking. If a character loses a weapon in the middle of a fight things could get rather tricky!
There is, however, one benefit to having 1s appear on a pushed roll. Each 1 rolled on the base dice grants the character one willpower point (WP). These are the points which are used to activate a character’s special abilities, called talents, inside the game–including spells.
About Combat
Forbidden Lands’ initiative is card based. Cards from 1 to 10 are set in a deck (an Ace is one) and dealt to the players. Engaged characters then act in ascending order.
Initiative is not drawn each round of combat. The cards which are dealt is the turn order, with two exceptions. First, at the beginning of a combat round players may exchange cards with one another–changing their initiative. This can be done as often as players want, but only at the beginning of a round (including the first round). Second, there is a talent which allows a Player Character (PC) to exchange cards with a Non-Player Character (NPC).
Characters are able to take one slow and one fast action, or two slow actions, each round. Attacks are all slow actions and weapons have features, like “pointed” and “blunt,” which indicate the types of attacks it can make. A sword, for example, is both “edged” and “pointed”–this means the weapon can be used to make both a slash and a stab attack. The different types of attacks impact the way targets may attempt to avoid damage (see below).
As with all checks, any attack on an adversary is successful when a single 6 shows on the dice. Weapons inflict a set amount of damage when they hit, but every additional 6 increases the damage done by 1 point. This may encourage players to push their rolls in desperate situations. Damage done to PCs is typically taken from might.
Forbidden Lands uses a zoned combat scheme and normal movement is a fast action. Arm’s length means the character is in immediate melee range. Near means the character is a few steps away from the adversary. Short indicates the character is up to 25 meters away. The last range for combat, long, is any character up to 100 meters away from the target. Any player who takes a run action is able to move 1 zone inside the combat. Typically this does not require a move roll, unless the character is moving over difficult terrain.
Two defensive actions, parry and dodge are also fast actions. Each is effective against attacks, but are more effective against certain types. Both defensive actions are able to be pushed, with the normal consequences in effect.
A dodge grants a +2 bonus against slash attacks. To dodge an incoming attack the player rolls move, every 6 rolled reduces incoming damage by 1 point. Dodging also results in the character being prone, unless they decide to make the roll with a -2 penalty.
A parry, on the other hand, grants a +2 against a stab attack, but the character must be wielding a weapon which has the parrying feature. Every 6 rolled reduces incoming damage by 1 point.
Armor in Forbidden Lands has a rating, which is the number of dice rolled to mitigate incoming damage. Every 6 rolled reduces damage taken by 1 point, but if a character takes any damage from the blow every 1 rolled reduces the armor’s rating by 1 point. When an armor rating reaches zero the armor is damaged and needs to be repaired. Armor rolls do not count as one of the character’s actions in the round and cannot be pushed.
About Characters
Characters in Forbidden Lands can be one of eight distinct kin. Each kin has their own motivations and lore, which makes each alien to the others. Each kin also has a specific talent they may use for their benefit.
Humans, elves, half-elves, and dwarves are the most common kin in Ravenland–and are woven most intricately into the world’s lore. Their endless conflict and competing ideas have caused much sorrow in the game world.
Orcs are the most feared of all the kin, and may be one of the most natural adversaries in the game. Unlike other games, Orcs are not evil. Just as none of the kin in the game are presented as good. Orcs are feared because their culture has spent generations chewing on how they were betrayed by the elder kin. They are more than willing to take out their anger on other kin in order to protect their own freedom.
Wolfkin are presented as the most “savage” of the kin, holding those who require things like cooked food and warm homes with contempt.
Goblins and halflings are actually related kin in Forbidden Lands. Goblins are creatures of the night and the forests and love being free from the niceties of civilization. Halflings, on the other hand, are depicted as cordial, friendly, and passive-aggressive. While each is unwilling to acknowledge their relationship to outsiders, the family connection between the two is acknowledged internally–though not without some harbored resentment.
There are also eight distinct professions in Forbidden Lands, offering a nice variety of ways to approach the game. Only two professions may cast spells–the nature magic wielding druids and the arcane force wielding sorcerers.
Professions are most differentiated by the skills with which they begin the game. During character creation any skill which is in the profession’s list may have up to 3 dice assigned to it, while the other skills may only have 1 die assigned to them. The number skill points a starting character has to spend is determined by their age, which is picked by the player.
Each profession also begins with one of three distinct profession talents, though as characters advance the other talents may also be learned. A caster’s talents will determine the spell disciplines from which they may cast (more on magic below). In addition to profession and kin talents, characters will also have a number of general talents–also determined by the character’s age bracket.
Perhaps the most unique aspect of character design in Forbidden Lands is pride. During character creation players may choose one of the three suggestions for their profession or come up with their own. During a session, when it makes sense in the narrative, a player may activate their pride and roll a d12 to add to their pool. If the roll still fails, the character loses their pride and must think up a new one in the next session. This reminds me of player intrusions from Cypher System and I think it’s a wonderful way to give a character a unique quirk.
Characters earn experience points after each session by reflecting on a list of questions found on page 39 of the Player’s Handbook. Each “yes” earns the character 1 XP, though the GM is the final arbiter whether or not an XP is should be awarded. Experience points in Forbidden Lands are not cumulative. Instead, XP are spent in order to increase rank in, or learn new, skills and talents. The XP cost to increase is the new rank multiplied by five for skills and and three for talents. PCs may only increase their skills and talents by one rank at a time.
About Magic
Druids and Sorcerers gain spell casting through their profession talents. Each talent is categorized as a discipline–three for druids and four for sorcerers–and each discipline has a number of spells assigned to ranks leveled one to three. When a caster attains the corresponding profession talent they may cast all spells in that discipline up to their current rank. In addition to the specialized spells there is also a list of General Spells which any caster may invoke.
Forbidden Lands does not have slots for spells known or for how many spells can be cast per day. If a caster has any willpower points they may cast a spell. By my reading, the higher rank spells still only cost one WP to cast, but players can choose to spend additional WP to increase a spell’s power level.
When casting players roll a number of dice equal to the amount of WP spent. Spell casting is automatic, the die roll is used only to determine potential side-effects. Every 6 overcharges the spell by 1, increasing the impact of the spell as described in the spell description. Even a single 1, however, triggers a mishap. This is determined by a d66 table in the Player’s Handbook, found on page 119. Mishaps can range from an altered appearance, all the way to a character being dragged into another dimension and being removed from the game.
Casting is risky, but there is a way to mitigate the danger. As a character advances in their magical talents they may roll one less die than is required to cast a spell from a lower rank. If this reduces the number to zero then no roll is made. A rank two caster, for example, can spend a single WP and cast any rank one spell for their discipline with no risk. This is called safe casting.
Conclusion
Forbidden Lands intrigues me, enough that I’m planning a small adventure to put the system through its paces. It’s a gritty game, but not quite as bleak as Mutant Year Zero. I appreciate the different character options and kin types, as well as the effort that went in to making each of the kin distinct from the others.
Game mechanics are simple to grasp, but may also be “too much.” Yes, players are only looking for 6s and 1s in their die rolls, but there can be so many dice rolls I fear it may slow things down–at least for newer players. One thing I do love about the combat system is the slow and fast action economy. Players can choose to make defensive actions to avoid damage, and still keep a second action hand to move away or counter-attack. That’s nice.
Casting is interesting, I enjoy the lack of spell slots, and the roll to see if something over charges. I do find, however, that tying the accumulation of WP to pushed rolls handcuffs casters at the outset of a campaign. On one hand this ties in well with the “magic is unreliable” nature of the game, but on the other it reduces the uniqueness of the profession. This is a bit I’m still pondering.
If you’d like to pick up Forbidden Lands for yourself you can pick up the core box set through Free League’s website for $59.93 as of this writing. This set contains two flat paper 1, book ribbon adorned, hardcover books with stitched binding–a Player’s Handbook and a Gamemaster’s Guide. These books a beautiful, and I’ll cover them in part two of this review. It also comes with a small booklet to help flesh out a character’s background, a map of the forbidden lands, and a set of stickers to mark the sites the party has explored over the course of their adventures.
If you’re in to gritty fantasy role playing games, this is work checking out.
It’s just better. ↩
https://dmtales.com/2024/05/29/forbidden-lands-part-1/
#DMTales #ForbiddenLands #FreeLeague #Reviews #RolePlayingGame #TTRPG #YearZeroEngine
Yesterday's #TTRPG mailbag.
#ForbiddenLands I have been eyeballing this one for a while. I really like the #YearZeroEngine and I like a lot of what this has to offer. The only concern I have is the Willpower currency, but online chats have said it works.
(I own way too many fantasy RPGs.)
#Marvel Multiversal: I wasn't sure if I would ever buy this; I prefer ICONS for superheroic stuff. However, the mechanics as similar enough to #FantasyAGE that I was sold.
I've been really diving into Free League games lately. My FLGS has a monthly RPG night and the theme this time is Indie Fantasy.
Really wanna run Forbidden Lands (because I just really wanna play FBL), but not sure it's the best for game store one shots introducing people to new games.
I might do it anyway.
If anyone has advice, I'd love to hear it
