Five Days in the Forbidden Lands (Book of Beasts Solo RPG)

This is a sample of what playing the Solo mode of Forbidden Lands with the Book of Beasts looks like.
Time Stamps:
2:16 Character Creation
22:31 Day 1
36:56 Day 2
45:21 Day 3
59:44 Day 4
1:02:36 Companion Creation
1:09:26 Day 5
1:14:23 Combat
1:29:34 Final Thoughts on the Book of Beasts Solo Mode

[@jasons.9389]

Great video! Thanks for the info. I just subscribed!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Awesome! Thanks for watching Jason!

[@retrodmray]

Thnx for this, sir! Always good to see some Forbidden Lands! You do a great job in going slowly through explaining all that you're doing. 👍🤓Please continue to cover this cool system!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Well thank you so much for the kind words Ray. I know that I always make a few mistakes anyway, and while trying to focus on providing a stream of conscious to the viewer to help teach the system I’m sure I make a few extras on top. I’m happy that the effort I put in was valuable for you! I intend to do some more of this in the future, I have most of the product line and really enjoy Forbidden Lands!

[@paavohirn3728]

Yeah! This definitely makes me wanna grab the FL box off my shelf!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Good deal! Free League does some great work. Really can’t go wrong with them!

[@paavohirn3728]

@@booksbricksandboards783 Yeah! I've ended up getting nearly all of their games 😅

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Not a bad choice! I have most of them. I particularly enjoy One Ring, Tales From the Loop and Twilight 2000, Vaesen, and of course my favorite (Forbidden Lands).

[@troyschnierer2940]

I have played two lengthy sessions of Forbidden Lands solo (also about 5 sessions as GM). The books and box set are beautiful, I love them so much. It was great to see you play as your style is quite different to mine. You reminded me of a few rules that I had forgotten about as well (weapon damage). I play a bit more of a journaling type game and I must admit, I can get quite bogged down. The two solo sessions have come after a 6 month break from contact with the game so I have spent A LOT of my two solo sessions looking up rules again. I read that the solo rules creator might be releasing another extended supplement as they had a strict page limit in the Book of Beasts. I mention this because I found that I wanted some themed dungeon tables like Ironsworn Delve (if you haven't solo played that, you absolutely should. God tier solo game). My dungeon felt disjointed as I made it on the fly. I might actually use the Delve charts to create a more cohesive dungeon next time I find a dungeon adventure site on my solo play session, maybe today even.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks! That is a thing unique to solo RPG’s, the level of journaling is entirely to taste. I actually have the PDF of the beta that you are talking about, at least when I recorded the episode, it was available on Drive Thru RPG. It is by the same author but it didn’t totally feel cohesive to what was in BoB. That said it wasn’t done yet, so maybe the finished product will be amazing.

[@goldengriffon]

Both Forbidden Lands and Ironsworn seem well directed to solo play... Have you tried Ironsworn fully in solo RPG mode, rather than just using its tables? If so, I'd be interested in your opinion on the plusses and minuses comparing the two. I don't have the time or money or energy to keep trying every system I hear about. 😛

[@booksbricksandboards783]

@@goldengriffon Yes I have, I even have an Ironsworn (and Ironsworn Starforged) video on the channel (as well as Forbidden Lands focused on solo). Ironsworn is probably the cleanest solo experience I have played. It has a simple resolution mechanics and a ruleset that drives the narrative forward. If I were going to have to choose a single introductory Solo RPG game, that would be it (it's also free on Drive Thru RPG in PDF format). Forbidden Lands is a great game with a good solo mode. Ironsworn is a very good game, with a great built in solo mode. Hopefully that answers your question.

[@andysimmons2648]

Thank you for this. This was an excellent and informative video. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

You are very welcome! I appreciate the kind words. I have thought I might do something similar either monthly or quarterly, so keep checking in.

[@heathsmith4864]

Awesome playthtough! Very enjoyable to watch! Thank you!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Welcome Heath!

[@AmazingAaxor]

Yes! Love Forbidden Lands. Have Book of Beasts but as of yet tried it’s solo tools. Glad I discovered this video! Thx for sharing it!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Welcome! Forbidden Lands lends itself to solo play already, so adding the Book of Beasts really seals the deal well.

[@AmazingAaxor]

@@booksbricksandboards783 Yea. I solo-ed it awhile ago- loved the procedural aspect of the hex crawling. Definitely great for solo! Excited to try it again with the official solo tools!

[@booksbricksandboards783]

@@AmazingAaxor there is a PDF by the author of the solo rules that I used in my playthrough as well. He wanted to do more in Book of Beasts but was limited on page count. It is available on DTRPG. I used some but not all of it.

[@AmazingAaxor]

@@booksbricksandboards783 awesome. I’ll check it out!

[@Kanakadea]

One day I will definitely try this game. But at the moment, my current setup doesn’t allow me to have that big of a map open all the time.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

It will be worth your time. You could really do a bit of exploring with only one section of the map. The exploration mechanics make movement much more treacherous. In my play, over 5 days I ended within a few hexes of where I started 😉

[@hexchad765]

Such a good game

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Year Zero Engine generally is very good. Throwing the hexcrawl elements and a compelling world and you have some magic!

[@dinkleberg684]

Can the solo rules from book of beasts replace the normal GM rules? Or would I need to memorize both and remember which version to use for specific sections?

[@booksbricksandboards783]

You need to know both the player and GM side of standard Forbidden Lands, then Book of Beasts modifies those rules slightly to account for the lack of GM.

[@Mind_of_MATT]

More Forbidden Lands solo if you will & maybe Symbaroum solo at some point (original, not the 5e)

[@booksbricksandboards783]

Thanks for the request, I will see what I can do 😉

[@ToothacheAZ]

I think you are not supposed to get an XP for showing up when playing solo. Great vid.

[@booksbricksandboards783]

I may have missed that. Then again, it talks about playing multiple full characters if you are able to manage the paperwork side of it, so it doesn’t seem like it unbalances the game by doing it. Seemed about right as far as my desired advancement rate, your miles may vary!