Free League Publishing Forbidden Lands: Core Boxed Set

*6/28/2021 Update* >>>> We have played over a dozen linked campaign sessions of this game, and it is our overwhelming favorite RPG system!!! There are four of us, each with 5-45 years of RPG experience. This system is flexible, conducive to great roleplaying, prep time can be as brief or as long as you want, combat is tense and fast, character customization is awesome - I cannot say enough about how fun this game is to play!! *Original review prior to playing* I've been playing RPG's since the original one back in the 70's. Since that time, I have read and played many, many systems over the decades. Since receiving the Forbidden Lands boxed set, I have been pouring through the books and simply cannot get enough. This looks to be one of the top systems that I have ever read and our group cannot wait to get started playing! Everything is beautiful from the kin, professions, talents, skills, exploration, stronghold building, background, and all the the other topics. It really cannot be understated how well this system reads and the excitement that builds as you start considering and thinking of ways to play. Mechanically it seems to be sound, though we haven't had a chance to put it into practice yet. Combat looks to be quick and likely very tense as PC's and their enemies have lots of options of actions they can take - all of which make sense both mechanically and in how a fight should play out. Plenty of choices that make sense mechanically, but won't overwhelm. Gear and armor provide a bonus to what you can do with your actions, and gear can wear down and lose it's potency. Players cannot carry a metric ton of items, crafting skills and talents that really mean something and can impact the game, monsters have a d6 table of actions that they can do to keep things random and interesting. Wow! Every available Forbidden Lands product is already in my hands as each one was ordered after only READING the two books in this boxed set. Each of those products simply shine in their own right. These are some of the best RPG books and adventures that I have read in over 40 years of gaming. I cannot wait to play, but have already thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of what Forbidden Lands has provided so far. It has sparked the imagination like few others. Get this game!

Things that make this game unique, OTHER than the beautiful physical artifact that it is: - The GM does NO prep for session 1. None. And basically none for later sessions. - Everything can be procedurally generated. Had a PC want to learn Symbolism magic, so he asked around in a village and we went to the Legend generator, pinning the age of the legend to recent and the person in the legend to "a sorcerer." Created a whole 3hr adventure. - Hex crawling done well! The party will want to get a Hunter or have someone buy in to the Pathfinder talent so they don't suffer constantly as they explore! - Monsters feel like Witcher monsters -- fighting *a* monster (or monster pack) is a BIG DEAL. Recommendation: They recommend giving monsters extra actions to make them harder. By default, a single monster isn't so bad against 2+ PCs (well maybe against 2). Give the monster 1 extra action every two players. 1@1, 2@2-3, 3@4-5, and 4@6-7. - Stronghold building is fun Cons: - The optional Close Combat system uses special cards and introduces a lot of unnecessary complexity - Wizards can randomly get sucked in to hell from casting a spell. Plan what might happen if this happens! - No summon demon spell? I can just houserule one up. - Wish it had more storygame-inspired GM advice

This is probably the best TTRPG boxed set I have ever purchased, the books are fantastic, the quality is suburb, I really love the lore and the atheistic of the game and the rules are easy to follow.

I watched a review of Forbidden Lands on YouTube and I immeidately ordered the base set. It is better than I expected. The base set comes with two hardbound books, The Player's Handbook and the Gamemaster's Guide, along with a Legends and Adventures Booklet, a beautiful double-sided map of Ravenland, and a sheet of stickers for use with the map. The creator has designed a very compelling background for the setting, that lends itself very well to developing interesting adventures. It features a detailed system for travel across the map and an innovative and complelling combat system. This was one of the most satisfying purchases I've made this year, and I would recommend that players and gamemaster's take a closer look at this outstanding system.

Free League is a great, communicative publisher and game designer! Forbidden Lands is such a great Hexcrawl, old school- feeling, Resource managing, gritty game system and world that you'll want to pull this out often! It can easily be a one shot or a long campaign and can be easily played solo, with new rules coming for that very soon or with adding in just a bunch of random table books (Table Fables, d100 tables, 1st edition DMG or MM wandering encounters, etc..). You really need to pick this up in favor of crunchy and new school....you'll wish you had a long time ago!

I've never seen such a high quality box set for the price. Both books are super high quality. We've been playing this game for a month now. I personally don't like the rules but my group really likes them. The game has an old school feel but more modern style rules. It does have a very interesting setting. Overall A+ game.