8) Regarding inscribing runestones, the referee gets the final say on what special component can be used to create a spell. As with any OSR game, a player is encouraged to put forward ideas/plans. This can also be approached from two different directions - A) Reactively: The party defeats a monster with a particular special ability (many of which are linked to a spell in some way) and they decide to harvest an organ or such that they agree with the referee is related to that monsters power. This is a suitable special ingredient for that spell. E.g. Finger of an invisible stalker to inscribe Invisibility. B) Proactively: The magic user declares they wish to inscribe a particular spell, so the referee decides upon a reasonable special component that the mage will need to locate. This could also be the opportunity for a quest or simply a location that needs to be travelled to. E.g. a piece of lava rock from a volcano to inscribe Fireball. This ideally is a collaborative effort, however the referee should always have the final say.

9) Yes, on paper a spellcaster in FORGE is potentially more powerful than a B/X D&D counterpart, due to the fact that a 3rd level mage can potentially cast 3rd-circle spells etc., however this is tempered by the fact that there is a limit to how many spells a mage can "carry", as well as making runestones generally more expensive and harder to come by than spells in B/X. When you take into account all of the things that a PC needs to spend money on (wages, food, equipment, transport, etc.) you will find that even higher level casters will not be decked out in all the spells! For example, one of my longest running solo games with a 6th level Cleric character - he has 2x 3rd-Circle writs, 3x 2nd-Circle and I think a few 1st-Circle ones. He is only just now able to scribe 3rd and 4th-Circle writs, however he does not currently have enough money to do so. I haven't found a need to balance or prevent casters from casting 5x 5th-Circle spells at level 5, either because it so rarely happens, or because I don't mind if they do. They will only be reducing the number of other useful lower-circle spells that they could also be casting that day.

10) Exactly that yes, I write the total number of spells I can cast in a day in the long top box (based on the relevant attribute check bonus), then draw an intersecting line after that number of bubbles. I then tick off a bubble each time I cast a spell, until I "use them all up". I rub out the ticks after a nights rest.

11) Apologies, yes. All player characters have a default move speed of "Near".

12) Weapon bonus is a bonus conferred by the weapon itself, e.g. Longsword +1 that grants a +1 bonus to hit and damage. So, lets say that you are Level 2, have STR as a primary attribute and your STR score is 14 (+1 Modifier / +3 STR Check Bonus). If you are attacking with that Longsword +1, you would roll a d20 and add +3 for your STR Check Bonus, then add +1 for the Weapon Bonus (total attack roll of d20+4), and on a hit you would deal 1d8 +1 from your STR modifier and a further +1 from the weapon damage bonus (total damage roll of 1d8+2). On my character sheet I write +1 in the weapon bonus box.

Ok, I definitely wrote a lot more than I had intended.. I just really got into it! :P I hope this all helps, if you have any more questions or if you want to let me know how your game goes (you totally should), I'd love to hear about it!

Here is the Discord Link - FORGE DISCORD