A Walk in the Forest of Arms

A Walk In The Forest Of Arms presents itself as a horror fantasy trpg adaptation of a Rankin/Bass and Ralph Bakshi movie by the same title.

I couldn't actually find any evidence of that film existing, so I *think* this is a meta element, but it does a cool job of conveying the intended tone of the game all the same. If you don't recognize the names Bakshi and Rankin/Bass, know that this is going to be a fairy tale that is sprightly and somber and mutable and cursed.

The PDF is 12 pages, with a really neat cover and a good layout that somewhat overfavors large blocks of all-caps + bold text. Nothing is hard to read, but it's a little bit tricky to pick out the important bits of a paragraph in a quick scan.

Content-wise, the mechanics are simple. Roll a d4 and anything other than a 1 succeeds. However, the actual structure of the game is a little complex.

You play as travelers braving a strange and folkloric woods, and gameplay is divided into scenes. Each scene, one person takes on the role of a player (called the Lost), one takes on the roll of the GM (called the Director), and one or more people take on the roles of Guides. The Director lays out four routes through the woods, the Guides roll d4s, and the Director sends the Lost down one of those routes that matches the number on one of the Guides' d4s.

At the end of the route, the Lost is presented with a choice between a good and a bad outcome, and the Director and Guides vote on which one the Lost chooses. The Lost also has a little bit of voting power, but it's likely much less than everyone else's.

This creates a *weird* gameflow, where the person playing what we'd normally understand to be a PC has the least control over their decisions. Fortunately, the roles rotate, but it still produces the effect of the lost being more of an actor on a stage. They don't get an overwhelming say in the script.

For GMs (that is to say, the Director) there are some handy resources. There's safety recommendations and optional encounters and some guidance on the intended feel of the game.

Overall, I think this is a cool and interesting game engine that can produce some great folkloric fantasy or horror, especially if you're patient with reading and understanding it, and if you have a group that values acting and emoting more than the crunch of the dice.

I'm not sure I'd recommend this as someone's first game, but if you like acting, and if you like your fantasy a bit creepy, and especially if you like games like Trophy, you should pick this up.