Era: Forbidden - a Tabletop RPG of Hope in an Invaded World

At Shades of Vengeance, we make games because we love doing it!

Working with our long-standing team of writers, artists and designers, we are proud to present our latest critically acclaimed Tabletop RPG:

This game is about ordinary people carrying extraordinary, dangerous power... and being hunted as they try to survive a world ruled by Angels, Demons and fear.

The Basics

There's a lot more information below, but here's a quick summary:

•  Era: Forbidden is a Tabletop RPG that explores a unique world where Angels and Demons have appeared and torn Human civilisation asunder in their never-ending war. It is primarily inspired by Hellboy and Darksiders (the game series).
• The players take the role of Forbidden, Humans who have touched a "Remnant" from that war and grown to superhuman levels of strength, putting them on a par with the smaller Angels and Demons! They now fight to protect what remains of Humanity! 
• Created by game design veteran Ed Jowett and his wife Immaculate Jowett, the game is perfectly balanced for small groups. It plays best with two players, but works excellently for a single player and a GM! (It is also playable with larger groups, of course, if you choose...) 
• It runs on the critically-acclaimed Era d10 Rule Set, a versatile, easy-to-learn system which has powered seventeen different games to date. It contains a number of unique rules to fit the setting and gameplay style, but follows the same paradigm as the other "Era Games".
• The game has been playtested and run for a wide range of groups (including at conventions) since January 2019. It's received great feedback, along with a few notes for things that needed tweaking!
• A Core Rulebook already exists for this game. We're building on this (expanding it by ~50 pages of content, new Remnants and more!) to deliver more opportunities for this world.
• Shades of Vengeance has run over 50 crowdfunding campaigns, with a 99% on-time delivery rate.

If that sounds like your kind of RPG, the START HERE reward gives you the complete rulebook in print and digital formats!

Our goal is to publish a Definitive Edition Rulebook, around 300 pages long, with full-colour illustrations throughout the book. It contains everything we have learned from GMs and players who have experienced the game over the last five years. 

The Definitive Edition Rulebook contains:

• a history of the conflict, answering the questions asked by players and GMs where appropriate, informed by decades of experience in worldbuilding.
• extensive details on locations, factions and individuals that may be encountered as characters explore the world.
• over 40 Remnants to shape your character the way you like, plus guidelines on how to create your own!
• a large Bestiary of Angels, Demons and Humans you might encounter.
• 15 Sessions (many of which are grouped into Campaigns!) to get you started with the game!

Want to know more? Just keep scrolling!

What is Era: Forbidden

Era: Forbidden is a fast-paced, medium-crunch, story-driven RPG which places you in a world where Human civilisation has been destroyed by the conflict between Angels and Demons. These creatures appeared around 50 years ago and the collateral damage from their war killed most of the population.

Now, the people that remain spend their lives running and hiding. A small number come into contact with weapons or equipment scattered over the world by the war. Those that do bind their soul to the items, becoming larger and stronger than Humans... but also less than Human.

Players take the roles of these "Forbidden", forced into near-isolation by the rest of Humanity, as well as the animosity of the Angels and Demons. However, they are the only ones strong enough to fight for Humanity...

Inspired by Darksiders and Hellboy, this game offers a wide range of possibilities for gameplay in the middle of the celestial war between Angels and Demons!

Playing is accessible and enjoyable for new players and veterans alike, thanks to the Era d10 Rule Set. We have been creating games in this system for eight years and have played them with every type of player at conventions across the UK, Europe and North America. 

Era: Forbidden was originally published 5 years ago and now we're returning to this amazing game to give it the update it deserves - a ~300-page Definitive Edition Rulebook with everything we have learned during that time!

Created by a husband and wife team, Era: Forbidden offers a new way to progress characters in the Era d10 Rule Set, through increasing the strength of the Remnant(s) the character is bound to.

We made a short audio to introduce you to the world of Era: Forbidden!

 More to follow as the campaign progresses...

Gameplay

Scroll down for example videos, including Actual Play sessions!

The Era d10 ruleset is a lightweight and dynamic system which is designed to help the players experience everything from suspense-filled moments to epic combat with superpowers to computer hacking with equal ease. It's also designed to provide benefits to those who roleplay their characters well, promoting the core skills that are transferable between every roleplaying game.

It's designed to allow you to experience this universe in a way that is as smooth as possible without being unrepresentative - the focus is on you and your choices, but they have every possibility of failure, especially if you're not skilled in what you attempt.

Want to take a look at the core of the rules? Download the Era d10 Fundamentals book from here and get a briefing (digital and print-ready options available)!

By choosing your skills carefully, your character can focus their powers into their superhuman abilities, dominate in any of five forms of combat, talk their way out of any situation or protect their teammates from harm.

Players roll a number of d10s, attempting to roll higher than a given Success Threshold. The more dice they roll above the Threshold, the more Successes they achieve.

The Threshold rises as the action becomes more difficult to accomplish and the number of dice increases as a player becomes more skilled. While one Success might achieve a positive result, the more Successes achieved, the better the outcome is for the player.

Of course, things can also go wrong - if you roll more 1s than Successes, you will Fumble. This leads to varying (though usually hilarious!) results. And, of course, the harder an action is, the more likely it is you will Fumble!

The number of dice is defined using an Attribute and Skill system, where each Stat defines its own areas of influence. You roll your dice depending on what you're attempting: whether Dexterity + Engineering for a precision piece of work, Intelligence + Engineering for a more theoretical problem or Luck + Engineering for a complete long shot, you'll be able to adapt to your circumstances and focus on your strengths.

Looking for a review of the Rules, as shown in previous editions? 
Talking About Games did a thorough review of Era: Forbidden:

Join us on our YouTube Channel if you want more!

If you want to know more about the specifics of each Stretch Goal, let me know in the comments!