Forbidden Lands

After many wars with invading humans ending with the unleashing of the Blood Mist, civilization has been reduced to subsistence levels for 300 years with little travel or communications between villages. Then suddenly the Mist is gone and everyone can explore again, reclaiming lost ruins and abandoned places, although some still shelter the monsters and demons used in the wars.

• Humans. Generally not liked by the other kin and it's their enlisting of demons in battle that is thought to have caused the Blood Mist.
• Elves. Almost immortal and able to regenerate. Their domain is nature and plants
• Dwarves. Builders of the world, their domain is minerals and constructed things
• Orcs. Slaves of the elves and dwarves. Generally hated and feared by all other kin.
• Halflings. Agile
• Goblins. Sneaky
• Half-Elves. Elves and Humans
• Wolfkin. Humans and wolves. They had no problems with the Blood Mist when in forests.

• Druid (magic user)
• Fighter
• Hunter
• Minstrel
• Peddler
• Rider
• Rogue
• Sorcerer (magic user)

Unlike other games, these can't be changed later.

• Strength
  • Raw muscle power, brawn, and stamina.
• Agility
  • Body control, speed, and motor skills.
• Wits
  • Sensory perception, intelligence, and sanity.
• Empathy
  • Personal charisma, empathy, and ability to manipulate others.

• Strength based
  • Might, Endurance, Melee, Crafting
• Agility based
  • Stealth, Sleight of Hand, Move, Marksmanship
• Wits based
  • Scouting, Lore, Survival, Insigh
• Empathy
  • Manipulation, Performance, Healing, Animal Handling

All Elves count as adults. Other kin may be young or old instead of adult. You get an extra attribute point, two less skill points and one less general talent and reputation for young and the reverse for old.

Each kin has a talent, each profession has a choice of three and the are also 45 general talents. All talents have three ranks. General talents don't require Willpower to be spent.

You use dice pools and need a number of success to be higher than the difficulty or opposed successes. Generally you only roll d6 dice. You may sometimes also roll d8, d10 or d12. You get one success for a 6 or 7, two for 8 or 9, three for 10 and 11 and four successes if you roll a 12.

• Number of dice rolled is Attribute + Skill (if you have it) + Gear. The different coloured dice are used to keep these pools separate in case you Push.
• if you fail you can Push, take the fail, or if applicable, once per session use your Pride aspect to add a d12 (if you still fail, you lose your Pride for the next session and choose a different one)
• Push - you must reroll all 2 to 5 valued Attribute or Gear dice and 1 to 5 valued Skill dice. However all 1s on Attribute and Gear dice now damage your Attribute or degrade your Gear (no effect for 1s rolled on Skill dice). In addition you get Willpower for Attribute 1s which is used to power some talents.

Combat uses card based initiatives, ranges and zones similar to FATE.

• Armour rolls Gear dice, successes reduce damage. If damage still gets through, any 1 that was rolled damages the armour.
• Some actions are reactive, like dodge and parry, which user up your actions later. Some actions can only be done with some weapons
• When an Attribute reaches zero (from damage or rolling 1s and pushing) you are Broken. Various effects depending on the Attribute. This may include critical injuries that may kill you
• You lose empathy for killing broken intelligent beings and it costs a willpower point

• Consumables are tracked (if a bit abstractly)
• Reputation is important
• Money earned and spent is tracked
• Conditions are important. You need eat, drink, sleep and stay warm every day if possible
• You may build or renovate a Stronghold as a base and employ hirelings
• Magic is dangerous to use (every success overcharges a spell, every 1 is a mishap)
• The game is a sandbox hexcrawl

During ten human generations, travelers were devoured by the Blood Mist, a red and ravenous haze that rose from the ground at night. Very few dared venture outside after nightfall and fewer still know for certain what lies beyond the horizon.