“You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to."
*Let me clear my throat really quick and put on an old-timey wizard voice.* Ok. Welcome adventurer! I heard your StartPlaying GM was guiding you through the Forbidden Lands? Are you ready to go out beyond the mountains into the Ravenland? Strange creatures and terrifying beasts roam the valley! The land is cursed, but filled with treasures for those willing to roam out and take it! OK. I can’t keep doing this whole guide in character, that’s absurd. Let’s make a character for Forbidden Lands from Free League.
Kin and profession
First up is picking your Kin. You can pick from any of your standard fantasy game options, or something a little different and a wolfkin, an orc, or a goblin. Personally, I’d go wolfkin all day every day, but you do you. Your Kin will affect your attributes, but more than that, each Kin has a unique Kin Talent. Next up, you’ll pick your profession, which gives you some key skills, attributes, possible Pride, Dark Secret, and Relationship. It also determines what kind of starting gear you’ll get. Now, pick your age. Depending on your Kin, this will make you either Young, and Adult, or Old. Your Age determines how many Attribute points, Skill points, and how many General Talents you start with. Older characters get fewer attribute points, but more skill points and talents.
Attributes
Now, spend your Attribute points depending on your age on the attributes: Strength, Agility, Wits, and Empathy. Attributes must range from 2-4; however, your key attribute listed in your Kin and Profession can raise that number you’re allowed to take to 5. If your Kin and Profession have the same Key attribute, you can spend up to 6 points in that attribute. Up next, you’ll spend your skill points. Any skill listed on your profession can be bumped up 3 times, and every other skill has a maximum of 1 for your starting skills.
Your character is about to be so talented
Now we get into the real mechanical meat of your character, the Talents. Please, never let me say “mechanical meat” again. You’ll start off with your Kin Talent, a Profession Talent of your choice, and a number of General Talents based on your age. Typically, Magic Talents can only be taken by Druids and Sorcerers, but don’t feel bad if you can’t take Magic, your character will probably live longer if they’re not casting spells, because spells are super dangerous.
When you are all finished picking your Talents, which may take some time, there are a lot of them and they are all really cool, choose what your Pride is. Your Pride should be something specific that you are very proud of, whether it’s an ability, something that happened to you, or anything else. You get some suggestions from your profession, but don’t feel like you have to use those. You can use your Pride once per session to add an extra d12 to a failed roll if you and your GM agree that it is relevant to the current situation. When you’ve written your Pride, write your Dark Secret. Your Dark Secret is something that has left its mark on you and haunts you, make sure it’s something your GM can use to get you into trouble and something you can use to get yourself into trouble, as it’s one of the core ways to get XP.
Gear and reputation
You’ll now get some gear. Your Profession will get you some starting gear, and you’ll get some coins that you can use to buy extra gear or you can save that for the game. Gear is pretty important, as you’ll be exploring the wilderness, and what you have on you can make or break your ability to survive.
Finally, you’ll describe your character’s appearance and give them a name and maybe even a nickname. You’ll also determine your starting Reputation depending on your age. Your Reputation score determines how well you are known, and the higher the score is, the more likely it is that people will know you when you come into a new town. Sometimes you really do want to go where everybody knows your name.
These lands? Oh, these lands are forbidden.
You’re done! You have a character and you are ready to get out there, crawl on some hexes and make some money. The world is dangerous, but you can handle it. Probably. If not, this guide is always available for your second character.
To find a game of Forbidden Lands you can join, click HERE. To find other games you can join click HERE
This guide was written by Jordan Hunt for StartPlaying. You can find him in most places as GM_ Jordan or sometimes in the wild buying a cortado and a muffin, he loves playing, running, and thinking about ttrpgs.
