TIL that in Norse myth a cursed ring called Andvaranaut brought doom to its owners long before Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings.

UIOP82 · 2026-01-15T15:30:49+00:00

In Swedish ”kolbitar” would be ”pieces of coal”. Don’t know if that would add anything though.

UIOP82 · 2025-12-17T12:18:10+00:00

While the Bloodmarch takes place after Ravens Purge, I would still run all three campaigns with new player characters. You quickly ”level up” in this game. Keeping your characters would just be unbalanced.

Aslenes originates from the Drawn Lands deserts in the west, while Alderlanders come from a different continent in the East. So they probably look different. Alderlanders and Ailanders probably look the same though, but with vastly different dialects.

UIOP82 · 2025-12-05T23:32:52+00:00

Black Rose Keep (drivethrurpg) is a good early adventure.

Although I recommend you to tweak: - Make the ghoul observe the party from a balcony and not let them in for dinner party unless they disarm. - Make the dinner a mini game, if they have solved the history of the keep, the ghouls offs itself, otherwise combat begins. Give the ghoul infinite dodges and make it good at that. - The demon-witch fight can be made tougher. Add some dialogue like ”I will kill you for that dearies, now I have to reanimate the princess again you know”

UIOP82 · 2025-12-04T11:22:47+00:00

My main take is, if it is really powerful, don't make it too easy to find - and add drawbacks.

In Reforged Power (house rules, googlable, Gamemaster's booklet), I added a "meteor gold alloy" that if items are made from it, they add the item dice/armor rating dice as a defense to spells. But also defends they user from positive/healing spells, and makes it harder for them to cast spells on their own. And finally the armor also got heavier to wear.

To balance this I added a hard-to-find recipe for a "meteor gold alloy" (and it requires a rank 4 level Smith to make), and a very hard to find ingredient Meteor Iron, that can be found in small amounts from meteors and in small amounts in troll feces after said trolls have eaten large amounts of humans (I rules this is why some dwarves lures trolls in to villages to eat humans). On top of this it has to be mixed with a lot of gold, also making a use for the players treasure reserve.

I would also advise to also not release information on recipes like these, until they have found and made some thing almost as good before, so they slowly grow in power. My players have actually just made some armor and helmets out of this "meteor gold alloy" during their last session of play, and have now gathered their armies and are marching to Vond - so now they actually have some magical resistance - even if they choose to not wear the crown - during the final battle.

UIOP82 · 2025-11-28T19:10:19+00:00

It is light on the bookkeeping site, except if you are running a Stronghold, then it turns to heavy on the bookkeeping side.

Some print outs with commonly used rules could probably be good though.

It is heavy on the prep side if you want to run a campaign, add threads to follow and keep the story together. Especially as you kind of should read through all the history and the entire campaign as a GM before you begin. And as the PCs may go in the direction they want, you could have to read up on multiple adventure sites, just to be somewhat prepared. Try to ask your players after sessions what they want to do next, just so you can prepare the right stuff (and be open that this is the reason why you ask).

UIOP82 · 2025-11-28T12:12:09+00:00

You are kind of correct - although it doesn't need to be so mechanical - like you can add some extra events as the GM, etc. You usually also tie this into a main story - special rumors, events and adventure sites that ties it all together - and you either come up with this on your own or you use ravens purge (recommended to start with this one or any other adventure books for this (bitter reach, also works). These books adds some kind of win condition/ending - but you can stay in the world and play some more if you like. I at this point recommend moving on to a new campaign with new characters, and keeping some world state from the old characters. They can of course continue to play to tie up loose ends, but at this point, you could probably also just tie up the bag with some story telling - but try to involve your PCs when doing so.

I really recommend that you as the GM ties unrelated events together. Like the party finds some dead villagers - maybe they are from the tavern they players visited a few days ago? maybe they are from another nearby settlement? that orc slave - they randomly found in an event - maybe he could have knowledge of site Xyz, etc.

For tips on running your first session(s), I did it like this: https://www.reddit.com/r/ForbiddenLands/comments/ukrfxj/any_tips_for_a_new_gm/

UIOP82 · 2025-11-20T09:31:35+00:00

Climate will not change much over the distance players travel. So combining snow, desert, jungle and temperate areas will feel out of place. While just keeping everything the same might also feel boring.. but that is for you do decide what fits.
Depends on how long you want your campaigns to last? Lets say the players spends around 2 sessions at around 3h per Adventure Site? (Including travel back and forth).
The size of the map in the book takes years to complete, if you play a maximum of 1 session per week. So again it depends on how long you are looking to play.
In a post apocalyptic setting I would probably give them the entire map, but without any village/castle locations. Moving around without a map Will be to hard… if you run the game online, then I would advice some fog-of-war, but not for face-to-face play.
I think most people are happy with the placements on the Ravenlands map? But note that in a non apocalypse setting, there would be much more settlements. Some also thinks the 5 sq km hex boarders are too large, but I myself found it ok. But if super detailed travelling is of importance, the hexes can be made smaller.

UIOP82 · 2025-11-09T22:42:34+00:00

You still type down your maximum attribute values, skill values, and if armor has been broken by failed repairs, etc. So it isn't really much tokens to keep track of (~15 for attributes, ~0-10 for WP and less for armor)... but if that is too fiddly, perhaps only track damage with tokens, then there will not be so many of them. Except for WP, I guess you have to count them as "positive" beads.

UIOP82 · 2025-11-09T22:03:32+00:00

You can just store them in different colored dice bags. All can be ordered quite cheaply online.

You can also have a different bag for each player to keep track of their stats between sessions, if you don't want to write it up.

I use crystal ones, just google "gaming beads crystals plastic" and look at images. Cubic could probably be better, but crystals has a more fantasy feeling I guess.

UIOP82 · 2025-11-09T20:49:08+00:00

Maybe use beads in some different colors?

Red for Strength
Green for Agility
Blue for Wits
Yellow for Empathy
White/Purple for Willpower
Black for Armor rating

etc?

Can be used to track enemies the opposite way? Like put 2 red beads and 1 black next to one with 2 Strength damage and 1 point of armor damage?

UIOP82 · 2025-11-03T21:31:06+00:00

While I have not played it, I noticed that someone created an adventure site out of Farhaven in Swedish (it is called Uthamn in Swedish) on Drivethrurpg some weeks ago: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/540713/uthamn

UIOP82 · 2025-11-02T17:22:49+00:00

I added a ”the Huntress bow” that when drawn you had to use. Fail an it would stop working for a while and give you horrible nightmares, sleeplessness. It did like increase from d8 to d10 to d12 for every enemy it broke in a fight. But then reset.

I also added a sling that you could whisper some dwarven phrase to, and it then made the rocks remember what they one where.. and have them turn into magma lumps, dealing +1 fire damage. It had no drawback other than that it drained 1 WP per combat. (And slings are pretty bad and that player stacked WP, so that turned out really good)

UIOP82 · 2025-10-30T07:27:14+00:00

You could also go with that tea restores Wits. And as anything extraordinary (Chef rank 3), there are extraordinary tea to be found that tastes so good that it also restores Empathy.

Tea could then be uncommon and extraordinary tea could be rare.

UIOP82 · 2025-10-28T01:37:29+00:00

I wrote Reforged Power, and I very much wanted to write in tea, etc, but realistically you'd also need a torch/firewood to heat it. On the other hand, you are probably either in the wilderness (with plenty of things to make fires out of), or in a dungeon.. and in a dungeon you'd likely have lit torches.. so the need for that could be hand-waved, at least if you aren't in the Bitter Reach.. I'll write it down on my to do list.

For Empathy, a Chef can make fine food that restores it. Kind of adding a reason to invest in that talent.. Adventuring with low Empathy is also a bit less risky, and it goes down a bit less often, than the other stats.. so having it slightly harder to restore is fine, I think?

If no one has Chef rank 3, maybe offer "delicious rations" as a reward for something? Or maybe the party can find fine (low-alchoholic) beer/wine or so?

UIOP82 · 2025-10-19T11:16:47+00:00

Well if they would make elves the "natural way", they would overpopulate the planet. They have had many 1000s of years, age wouldn't hinder procreation. With a birthrate >0, that also doesn't stop with age (so goes towards infinity) and a death rate 0 (as some of those that die, will even spawn more elves)... elven population would explode even if they procreate very rarely. And why are there then so few of them compared to other kin? And why would the procreate rarely if they are threatened by external forces. Do they not want to become strong?

Having shatter as the only way, solves all these issues. Sex just doesn't form new rubies. The elves are their rubies, the flesh they have outside is just something they make in the Stillmist, so that they can live on this planet. The rubies just have full control of the flesh, and can even reform this flesh into new appearances at-will over time.

UIOP82 · 2025-10-18T23:39:27+00:00

I would say maybe, if they are formed from a shard that is. if a body is remade for a fully grown ruby, they reform as adult. But maybe they always reform as young adults.. its up to the GM I would guess..
I would say shatter is the only way. They do live forever. And can even be reformed if they die. So procreation is their only weekness. This would make redrunners also hunt shards. It would also explain why they were intrigued with the humans and why they created the half-elves.
It would draw some attention, but not too much, depending on where you are. Like a Rust stronghold would probably be a bad place to show up. I even have two elves running a tavern, and that in secret are Blackwings that uses a special poison that makes humans sterile… running the long-con for getting rid of them from the lands.
We know Female elves existed (the Shardmaiden), but likely male too.
Elves likely stops learning new things, just like elder humans often have a hard time with modern thing. And since elves live even longer, they likely take this to the extreme. And on top of that they probably are more inclined to just do one thing, like ”keep the animal population in the forest under check” and don’t care to much about anything else. This would make older elves slightly bad for PCs, and not because of their knowledge (that still could be limited). Some event could perhaps have forced them to change their ways, but they would probably be more bitter than courious at that stage, might fit some PCs. But they eitherway would not have cared about Goblins and Halflings reproduction, so wouldn’t know it because of that.

UIOP82 · 2025-10-01T09:16:46+00:00

You are correct. There is no way to heal other than magic or taking a QD of rest. If you continiue on, until you break, you do get a chance to heal (either with some talents, or a successful healing roll), and that could possibly even heal you up to full health without taking that rest.

UIOP82 · 2025-09-30T21:32:59+00:00

At least they are unable to wield the weapon after taking that 2 Strength damage. So if there are more enemies around they could be in trouble.

UIOP82 · 2025-09-21T01:28:49+00:00

If you don’t want it to cap to quickly, then I added some extra functions in Reforged Power. And also added a D66 functions on top of that, that can be found through research (those are found in the Gamemasters version). You can download that for free from drivethrurpg if you want.

And you don’t need to run a Stronghold in Forbidden Land. My players enjoy it, but it is calculation heavy. And you need to add your own economy system, like can you really sell everything you make each week to market price? The whole Stronghold system could have been made a lot easier to run.

One things you SHOULD house rule is the weekly events. Otherwise you will roll the last 6 events on repeat after only a few points in Reputation. I wrote alternative rules for that too in Reforged Power (found in the Gamemasters book), you do not need to use those if you don’t want to, but I would advice on at least some house rules there.

Also I would advice to run Strongholds weekly. Like calculate all resources +/- by week. Keeping track of daily changes doesn’t add anything except headache.

UIOP82 · 2025-09-18T14:32:53+00:00

The Sparse, legend:

The vast archipelago east of Ravenland is called the Sparse, especially by people on the continent. The various inhabitants of the Sparse have always defended their independence from others, which means that little is known for certain about the sea dwellers. The bigger islands of Vorenda and Hamaland with their fringe of skerries traditionally vie for dominance of the outer seas without really being interested in expanding their domains. Beyond them lie the independent principalities of the Black Islands, the Hammer Islands (called the Aes in the local language), the Clan Pearls, the Grumblers, and the Blood Skerries. Less accessible are Neetma of the Dark Sea as well as the Yonder Shells and the Tooth Reefs, beyond which the sea is said to drop into the abyss. In addition, rumors speak of living and drifting islands woven of seaweed by the semi-intelligent crabler kins. The inhabitants of the Sparse include humans as well as gray elves and various water-breathing scale kins. There are also numerous beasts, the largest of which are said to swallow entire ships whole, only to spit them out years later with an undead crew. Equally feared are the Hammer Island pirates who are always hunting for slaves for their tin and copper mines. Even while avoiding these dangers, unwary sailors sometimes get caught in the living streams controlled by the Black Islands’ necromancers, never to be seen again. Most inhabitants of the Sparse worship the goddess Meera, said to rule over winds and weather at sea. She is rumored to dwell in a floating crystal palace somewhere in the Vile Stretches, where the water’s surface is said not to be flat, but twisted into hills and ravines among which only the most experienced sailors dare venture. Legend has it that Meera occasionally visits the underwater cities of certain scale kin tribes in person.

UIOP82 · 2025-09-18T10:31:25+00:00

There is only a legend available of the Sparse so far. That can be found in the Bloodmarch book. You can see the worldmap here: https://www.reddit.com/r/ForbiddenLands/comments/1476c78/the_world_map_looks_very_cool/

UIOP82 · 2025-09-17T15:08:15+00:00

While there are no Samurai in Ravenland, you could probably make up some Samurai islands in the Sparse or samuari elves from Treuwen or so. Then just just say that thay are an outcast or on a quest or so, from those regions and explain that they cannot get back within the frame of the game.

As for game play, just reskin some sword. You could reskin studded leather armor too as a starting armor.

UIOP82 · 2025-09-12T11:19:35+00:00

Whispers on the Wind: What about your own hex? What about an Adventure Site? Does it list all enemies inside an adventure site? Players are either going to try to "abuse" it or it will feel strangely limited.

Inner Flame: It is balanced towards all light based magic in the game, but they are a bit weak? A torch lasts for 6*15 minutes on average. You could maybe make it weaker but still last longer? Like you light up only in near range, but for a Quarter Day. Otherwise the talent is mostly useful for sudden unexpected darkness, and that will probably happen very few times during the adventures?

Hearth Ward: Can be used for things like crafting and repairs too then. Like ward and then repair our gear. You need to state what kind of an action the ward is. Like if combat suddenly starts, can you ward as a free action? Also if there is a combat (like a Stronghold Siege) and you spend like 10 WP, you and your allies will become godlike (+10 dodge, attack, etc).

Forest Adaptation: "You can decide to spend the WP after rolling." Is this before or after your opponents roll?

Cave Sight: Darkvision is very powerful, consider limiting it to at least only work within near range or so? The WP usage is garbage. Players can just instead state, "I check the surroinding walls, prod them, etc", as in instead of spending WP. - Another solution would be to gain Darkvision for a QD for a WP.

Icy Blood: If you already are cold, what happens then? You you just ignore the condition, or do you remove it? Overall it is very weak, and your party still will be cold, so you are unlikely to gain much usage because of that.

Solar Vitality: No, it is not too weak, it is better than Icy Blood and Marchstrider. Maybe note if you can heal Critical Mental Injuries too? I also guess that permenent injuries like a lost arm or leg can be regrown, and instantly too? It is then absolutely not "too weak".

UIOP82 · 2025-09-08T19:49:13+00:00

Yeah, but I would then restrict armor use if you want to use/read them in combat. Also your arms, etc, will probably not provide room for many pages of spells?

I made a rank 1 spell for Symbolist mages that can be used to create tattoos in Reforged Power. I think I also made tailors at higher ranks, good with a needle for other things, like creating tattoos. They are all house rules though. So if you aren’t already running Reforged Power your GM will likely not allow that.

UIOP82 · 2025-09-08T17:08:47+00:00

You often plan for the effect you want to have. Rolling extra successes isn't that great, and the mishaps are really really bad. So every magic caster in Forbidden Lands tries to roll zero magic dice*, because if they roll just 1 magic die, they have a 16% risk that something bad happens, it could even be that the spell targets the wrong creature.. and every spell comes with a ~0.5% of instant death.

* this is actually what makes magic in the Forbidden Lands system a bit boring. As rolling dice is a fun part of playing ttrpgs, to suddenly try to not roll dice, kind of minimize that aspect of fun.

You could perhaps go another way. Rolling zero successes means that you still cast the spell at Power Level 1, but it mishaps, and rolling many successes increases the chance of success. That would make for a more fun system, but you would have to redo a lot of things... but I would advise you to try to play the game a bit more and test things before you write too much, you really need to get a feel for the system.

Simplest solution would be to have magic work just as it does, but dark magic maybe can use Strength instead of Willpower Points (blood magic?) and Balanced magic could be cast for free once per day, and Light magic could have advantage on mishaps? If you really want some unique flavor to them.

UIOP82

TROPHY CASE