Mutant: Year Zero, Forbidden Lands, and Hexcrawling

[Psychopomp]

So, I own and have read Mutant: Year Zero, and I recently started reading Forbidden Lands. I love how both incorporate evocative, integrated hexcrawls with a splash of slowly surfacing metaplot. I'd love to run either, but I have a major concern: I'm looking to run a long-term campaign, and both systems look fairly lethal. I'd like a game to have a lot of danger, of course, but also give the PCs enough survivability to allow the players to develop their character and get really invested in their story/adventuring life. But MY0 straight up warns you in the GM Principles that everything wears out and breaks, even characters - to expect deaths and allow players to quickly assume new PCs and integrate them into the group. Forbidden Lands reads like its a bit more forgiving on that front, but there's still the GM Principle that says you gotta let them die if they die, and that has me concerned that it might come up a bit more commonly than my group likes in a long-term game. One player has specifically requested a more cinematic game, where most threats to the PC come from effects other than death, as opposed to gritty, more harsh games where one is expected to be prepared to reroll a new character at any time.

For those who have played/run either game, how lethal are the games to PCs in practice? Feel free to compare to any other games you can think of, as reference points would be helpful for me to gauge if this is a good system for us to try out.

For those who have played/run both, how does the lethality compare between them? Is MY0 notably more lethal than Forbidden Lands, or vice-versa?

And finally, does anyone have any experience porting the settlement (Ark/Stronghold) and hexcrawl journeying systems from these two specific games to other games systems? If so, are there any thoughts, pitfalls, or advice you'd like to share? These elements have really caught my attention lately, and I want to try a game out with them, even if I have to convert them over to something else. My current go-to generic system is Genesys, but any insight you fine folks have on such a project would be appreciated.

 

[Trippy]

Essentially, the idea of a hex crawl really harkens back to the earliest roleplaying games where D&D and Traveller were frequently built out on the same basis. I would say that Mutant: Year Zero builds a really compelling game out of the same notion though - I'd list it as one of my games of the decade in fact - and yes, it's pretty deadly. Particularly, if you continually push rolls.

 

[raniE]

I’ve played Mutant Year Zero and Genlab Alpha under two different GMs. No PCs ever died and we would often curbstomp opposition with nary a scratch on us. Combat mutations coupled with high combat skills and decent equipment means a really dangerous group of killers.

 

[Skywalker]

The systems are less lethal than they appear IME as though a broken PC is out of the action, and maybe suffering a critical injury, they aren’t dead and can be relatively easily healed to be back on their feet.

Don’t get me wrong, the system is still relatively lethal but unless the PCs go up against overwhelming odds or lack resources, then the chances of dying enmasse are less than they seem.

 

[Psychopomp]

Hmmm. Okay, so those GM Principle entries are really more of a "don't fudge if they do die, let it happen" than a "expect PCs to die a lot, let it happen, and reroll new ones"?

 

[Lessa]

I've played a couple sessions of Mutant Y0 and my experiences reflect Skywalker's. The game is more gritty than lethal. You'll feel miserable sometimes with all the decay around (and within your body) but not dead.

 

[Charlie D]

I've run both MY0 and Forbidden Lands. In MY0 we only had one PC die out of five over several months. We haven't lost a PC yet in FL and have played around six sessions.

Alien RPG, using the same rules, ups the lethality by allowing some creature attacks to be auto crits.

So I would agree with your assessment. Don't fudge but I wouldn't expect a TPK either.