by Scott Parrino, 23 April 2026
Following up on some initial explorations with the Forbidden Lands game, it was time to talk to the design team! Christian Granath of Free League Publishing was kind enough to indulge some of our questions about the background of the game.
Supposedly the artwork by Nils Gulliksson is what inspired Forbidden Lands itself? If so, was there something about the artwork that led to the combination of the setting utilizing the Year Zero Engine?
Most of the artwork included in the Forbidden Lands core rules originate from Drakar och Demoner, which was a very popular role-playing game in Sweden during the 1980s. Since many members of the team had that game as their first RPG, Nils Gulliksson’s artwork became defining for fantasy and role-playing games in Sweden.
After the success of Mutant: Year Zero, we were very eager to try that engine in a fantasy setting. With the production of an art book focused on Nils Gulliksson’s illustrations, the opportunity arose to use his work in a role-playing game—so we thought: why not?
click images to enlarge
What was the team’s “elevator pitch” to go ahead with the development of Forbidden Lands?
Our elevator pitch went something like this: “In Forbidden Lands, the player characters are not heroes sent on missions dictated by others – instead, they are raiders and rogues bent on making their own mark on a cursed world. They will discover lost tombs, fight terrible monsters, wander the wild lands and, if they live long enough, build their own stronghold to defend”.
Going off of that old-school feel to Forbidden Lands from older TTRPGs, were there influences from other systems that the team looked to put in Forbidden Lands, and on the opposite end were there any systems that the team wanted to avoid entirely?
At its core, we wanted to emulate the feeling of playing Drakar och Demoner when we were young, but with a somewhat more serious and darker tone, so part of the inspiration came from that game. Then, of course, our own Mutant: Year Zero served as a guideline for how the game’s core design should look. We also drew inspiration from some OSR games that were popular at the time.
We wanted to avoid making Forbidden Lands a lore-heavy game where the GM had to study large amounts of text before sessions. In the same way, we wanted players to be able to just sit down at the table and play. If they wished, they could learn about the world during the sessions through legends.
Forbidden Lands‘ aim is to capture the experience of a hex-crawl from older generation of tabletop RPGs and give the players the ability to build out a stronghold for their adventurers – was the stronghold system planned for at the start, or something that felt like a natural addition?
Once again, it was an addition inspired by our early years as role-players: after long campaigns, there was a need for a place to rest, train, and store the treasures you had amassed during your adventures. Often, this was a former dwelling belonging to some villain you had defeated.
This later became a distinct part of the game, where you hunted local bands of raiders or waged war against ambitious neighbors. You had to repair walls and provide food for your servants as the stronghold grew. It felt like a natural element to incorporate into Forbidden Lands.
A fun challenge question: if a Forbidden Lands TV show or movie was greenlit, what famous actors would you all want to have a part in the show as who? Personally, I feel like Christopher Walken would be a great Zygofer.
Fun question. Christopher Walken is an excellent choice for Zygofer! Then perhaps Cillian Murphy as Merigall, Jennifer Connelly as Virelda Bloodbeak, Daniel Day-Lewis as Zertorme, and Ron Perlman as Kartorda.
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