I played Forbidden Lands and loved everything, except that it uses dice pool.
It had the perfect level of crunch and lethality in combat. I loved the critical injury system.
So im basically looking for Forbidden Lands but not dice pool.
And Dragonbane seems kiiinda similar?
But deathsaves and larger hp pools kinda bums me out.
So, need advice on DB:
Do you think the game supports a mature and dark story?
How lethal is the combat?
Can you easily modify the system to be like I want it, without breaking it, or is it better to stay with Forbidden Lands?
I played lots of forbidden lands and quite some dragonbane. Undoubtedly dragonbane is much more heroic with the aforementioned death saves, hitpoints and conditions. Bear im mind that damage taken while down (from an aoe-monster attack or a stray fireball) is an automatically failed safe. In my experience you can absolutely play it gritty, dark & challenging, just by giving less opportunity to rest & be on friendly grounds. You could even homebrew-temper with the death saves, die after 2fails but recuperate with 5successes, or leave them out entirely. But gain a bit of experience with playing as intended. Characters do die, by no means less often than in fbl.