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Hello everybody! I am trudging along with the text to the next expansion book and thought I might share some of the sources for inspiration that I use. This might give you some hints as to the feeling of what we are working on.

- The Terror, tv series. It is grim, so grim. A bit to many lads all over the place though but hey, I can change that when I write.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terror_(TV_series)

- Conan the Barbarian, the movie. A classic, I love the first hour more than the second, but for me this is one of the defining sword and sorcery movies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_the ... 1982_film)

- Conan the Barbarian and Savage Sword of Conan, comics from Marvel. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_the ... n_(comics) 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savage_Sword_of_Conan 

- At the Mountains of Madness, the novella by HP Lovecraft.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_the_Mo ... of_Madness

So these are my primary sources of inspiration. What do you think would be something to be inspired by when creating for The Forbidden Lands?

Regards

/Magnus

Hi Magnus, thanks for sharing your sources of inspiration!

I don't know if it has occurred to you or any of Fria Ligan's authors, but I see a few similarities in tone between the Forbidden Lands setting and the world of Berserk, by Kentaro Miura.

Though Berserk is a more late middle-ages setting, it's a western-style low-magic fantasy which is quite unforgiving to the generally weak common peoples, with a rich but at the same time inscrutable backstory and higher alien powers that shape the fate of the land.

Berserk is available in many formats, but if you are not familiar with it just avoid the Berserk 2016 TV series, as the quality of the visuals is so bad that it distracts from the excellent story.

I don't know if it has occurred to you or any of Fria Ligan's authors, but I see a few similarities in tone between the Forbidden Lands setting and the world of Berserk, by Kentaro Miura.

Though Berserk is a more late middle-ages setting, it's a western-style low-magic fantasy which is quite unforgiving to the generally weak common peoples, with a rich but at the same time inscrutable backstory and higher alien powers that shape the fate of the land.

Funny you should say that, because I've actually seen Berserk recently and like the grim setting although it is VERY gory including some really unsettling sexual abuse. The scary giants of ”Attack on Titan” are also an inspiration. A number of other animes probably also gave some inspiration. All these have been brough to me by my daugther.

I might add that old mythical tales like Finnish Kalevala and Welch Mabinogion have inspired me and of course Norse mythology and Sumerian myth. All roughy hewn, unforgiving stuff. I also picked some up from sir James Frazier's ”The Golden Bough” (I used the name of the books for an elven group as a homage)

Funny you should say that, because I've actually seen Berserk recently and like the grim setting although it is VERY gory including some really unsettling sexual abuse.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that - Berserk goes off the charts when it comes to graphical violence.

Another reference, that I personally use as a source of inspiration for my campaign when it comes to fleshing out villages and thinking about monsters, is The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. It's also low-magic fantasy, but based on eastern-European folklore.

Though I've never read the books, the video game series based on them has received massive acclaim. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's soundtrack, mostly done by Polish folk music band Percival, is absolutely fabulous and I often listen to it while preparing my Forbidden Lands sessions. A TV series is also going to air in 2019.

Hey,

I wanted  to share two outstanding artists who draw beautiful dungeons and/or landscapes which I use for my group:

- Trilemma Adventures: Really creative and beautiful dungeons, packed on one side. He also has a Kickstarter for a collection of all his dungeons running.
http://trilemma.com/

- Randy M: He draws a lot of landscapes with background ideas. I absoluteley fell in love with the art and background of the bay of spirits and plan to use it as a source for Farhaven and it's surrounding.
https://www.patreon.com/randy_m
http://www.thebayofspirits.ca/#downloads

I don't know if it has occurred to you or any of Fria Ligan's authors, but I see a few similarities in tone between the Forbidden Lands setting and the world of Berserk, by Kentaro Miura.

Hello!

Very interesting! I have never heard about Berserk before, but I will take a look at it. A quick image search unearthed some gory images, a huge sword and some kind of armor. The brutality might be a bit over the top for what I am aiming for, but I'll take a look!

Regards

/Magnus

Funny you should say that, because I've actually seen Berserk recently and like the grim setting although it is VERY gory including some really unsettling sexual abuse.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that - Berserk goes off the charts when it comes to graphical violence.

Another reference, that I personally use as a source of inspiration for my campaign when it comes to fleshing out villages and thinking about monsters, is The Witcher by Andrzej Sapkowski. It's also low-magic fantasy, but based on eastern-European folklore.

Though I've never read the books, the video game series based on them has received massive acclaim. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt's soundtrack, mostly done by Polish folk music band Percival, is absolutely fabulous and I often listen to it while preparing my Forbidden Lands sessions. A TV series is also going to air in 2019.

I always felt that The Witcher is an interesting inspiration, mostly for my WFRP games. I like that the folklore is not the standard western one. Although I only looked through The Witcher RPG, it unfortunately didn't catch my interest.

/Magnus

Hey,

I wanted  to share two outstanding artists who draw beautiful dungeons and/or landscapes which I use for my group:

- Trilemma Adventures: Really creative and beautiful dungeons, packed on one side. He also has a Kickstarter for a collection of all his dungeons running.
http://trilemma.com/

- Randy M: He draws a lot of landscapes with background ideas. I absoluteley fell in love with the art and background of the bay of spirits and plan to use it as a source for Farhaven and it's surrounding.
https://www.patreon.com/randy_m
http://www.thebayofspirits.ca/#downloads

Wow! The Bay of Spirits. So good, so atmospheric. I downloaded everything I could find on that site!

Regards

/Magnus