Forbidden Lands KS begins

[Tarot70]

and already well-funded.

Fantasy hexcrawl boxed set by the makers of Coriolis and Mutant: Year Zero.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/forbidden-lands-retro-open-world-survival-fantasy

 

[CRKrueger]

The $88 Ogre level gets you physical boxed set, map, hardbound campaign book, dice, cards, and PDFs of everything. That's quite a deal.

 

[The Butcher]

Intriguing.

What's the M:YZ system like?

 

[Mrfish]

Intriguing.

What's the M:YZ system like?

So Im not familiar with mutant, but I have some experience with Corilos which is based on Mutant. I dont have that book at hand right now, so some of these things might not be 100 %, put to give an impression ill try to make a short summary.

Coriolis uses a simple d6 based system which revolves around pools of dices, rolling six´s for success. Every success after the first generally grants you an effect in addition to your success. In addition there are 3 things that can modify rolls; gear, difficulty of task attempted and assistance given (probably more as well, but these are the main ones I think). These will give to a bonus of up to +3 dice (or they might reduce your dice pool by the same amount).

There are 4 abilities (strength, agility, wits and empathy) and 20 skills (10 general, and 10 advanced very similar to untrained and trained in d20). In addition you gain talents, which are very similar to feats, and includes “mystical powers” (mystical powers is a skill, and the talents you choose define the effects). I think most scores run from 1-5 in both skills and attributes. Generally your dice pool will have 4-5+ dice on a basic check, and with six´s granting success I think checks should be called for only when failure can have meaningful consequences.

Combat is divided into phases. You have 3 actions points, each action taking from 1-3 points. Fast actions are taken first, they encompasses things such as taking cover, drawing a weapon and making a quick shot. Normal actions are basic attack actions and reloading, while slow actions are firing aimed shots, administering first aid, and using your mystical powers. In addition you can save action points to make reactions (generally costing 1 point), defending in close combat or making an attack of opportunity are examples of reactions. You can defend against melee attacks but as far as I remember, not against ranged, so in a fantasy campaign where melee is prevalent, then saving points to defend would be critical. When defending you roll dice, each 6 reduces the amount of 6´s your attacker rolls by 1 (you can also choose other effects such as counter-attack and disarm).

When making attacks and getting more than 1 success you can choose to spend each die to increase damage, cause a critical injury, strike fear into your opponent, disarm, initiate grapple etc.

You can choose to preroll your dice pool once, but this will grant the GM a darkness points (in Coriolis this happens by calling for the icons (similar to avatars) to aid you). One or more darkness points can be used by the GM to hinder the players or influence outcomes. Examples are having the NPC reroll a check or taking the initiative, empty a clip (you generally dont count ammo), make a player drop a possession (a rule I think I would ignore), place an innocent in danger, or drive the player temporarily insane.

The mystic system is very simple and general, and I get the feel that the premise is that powers should be used sparingly. I dont think the mystical talents include a single stated modifier in their description. Using mystical power takes a mystic-skill check, and the GM is granted a darkness point.

Forbidden lands will obviously use a slightly different mechanic (seeing as they have included not just d6´s in their kickstarter). But that is the basic premise I think.

I own Tales as well, but haven't really studied the system much - been to busy drooling over the gorgeous presentation and art. Free league truly makes fantastic stuff, I dont think anyone can match what the different Swedish companies are producing at the moment when it comes to layout and art (and the mechanics are simple and intuitive).

Hope that helps.

 

[Mrfish]

This kickstarter har gone into its final 24 hours, so I thought Id bump this thread once before ending.

The kickstarter has reached more than 20 stretch goals, and added many cool add ons (including most former free league settings, such as Coriolis, Mutant and Tales from the Loop). I would check out the new setting itself, the goals and the add ons to see if it seems like a game(s) you might appreciate. If budgets are "stretched" through support of the many other awesome kickstarters that are taking place right now I think you should be able to drop some cash now and manage later (not 100 % on this though, so you might do some research just in case).

Theres a Q&A with one of the creators here if you want to hear him speak a bit more about the game;

... but basically it uses the system from Mutant y0 in a sandbox, exploration setting. Two of the main features in the game is that you "create" your own campaign world as you play (or at least get to affect it in a major way), and in time you get to set up a stronghold from which you can launch your explorations.

 

[Sosthenes]

Hmm, they're going to make the engine OGL? Now I'm interested.

 

[Mankcam]

I backed it purely because its such an old school setting, and the art and production value looks excellent.

They suggest that the setting could be used with most systems, so I was thinkning of BRP (BGB, MagicWorld, or Mythras), but if the rules play well then I'm willing to use the actual system in the game.

The setting looks full of flavour, I love that classic style fantasy artwork

 

[Spinachcat]

I am regularly ALMOST a customer of theirs. I keep almost getting Mutant Zero and Coriolis and Forbidden Lands, but something keeps me from pulling the trigger. The stuff looks beautiful and the excerpts I have read seem well done, BUT I have not seen any demos at any conventions and game days and that concerns me about the actual play reality.

I keep reminding myself I still haven't run Exemplars & Eidolons which keeps me from running toward yet another fantasy RPG that I may not actually play at the table.

 

[Charlie D]

I am regularly ALMOST a customer of theirs. I keep almost getting Mutant Zero and Coriolis and Forbidden Lands, but something keeps me from pulling the trigger. The stuff looks beautiful and the excerpts I have read seem well done, BUT I have not seen any demos at any conventions and game days and that concerns me about the actual play reality.

I keep reminding myself I still haven't run Exemplars & Eidolons which keeps me from running toward yet another fantasy RPG that I may not actually play at the table.

I have run an entire campaign of MY0, four sessions of Coriolis (two at Gen Con last year), and a one shot for Tales from the Loop. I feel confident of buying anything from Free League now. I have yet to be disappointed.

The system runs well and the translation is very good. The English version nearly always benefits from input from the Swedish edition actual play sessions. And you can post on the Free League website and the designers will respond.

MY0 involved a lot of exploration, diplomacy, combat, base building, and creating alliances. The characters were tough but felt just fragile enough to still seem human (well mutated humans). The players had many options in character building and campaign direction both.

I can't wait for the OGL to be released and for more Year Zero rule based games to come out.

 

[Voros]

Finally got my KS package today, it was delayed for a month because courier companies are the worse. I kinda forgot how much I was getting for $80 USD.

Checkout this nerdbooty.

 

[Mankcam]

Yes mine arrived just before Christmas, and that was one helluva geek lootbox to open up. Beautiful stuff!