Symbaroum setting

[Jd Smith1]

Anyone familiar with it?

I'm looking for a fantasy setting (not system, will use Zweihander), and I liked the look of the map and the rich but compact history, but I haven't gone too deep.

Are there any decent published campaigns/scenarios?

Does the setting hold up in play?

Recommendations?

 

[SJB]

The British game designer Paul Baldowski provides a good analysis of Symbaroum based on his long-running campaign.

The Iron Pact

Adventure in the World of Symbaroum

www.theironpact.com

 

[schneeland]

I have read the rule books and some of the adventures (but not all).

In short:

• The system is a custom d20-based system that is relatively straight-forward (though sometimes a bit cumbersome IMO). Unfortunately, it's not very robust IMO and has a number of game-breaking talents. That will probably not matter too much for you, but I would recommend having a look specifically at magic, because the corruptive effects of magic are central to the setting
• The setting itself is partly described in the basic books, partly as part of the books of the main campaign around which the game is created. Thematically there's IMO a bit of "discovery of a new world" in there, and also a larger bit of Princess Mononoke.
• Said campaign is named "The Throne of Thorns" and centers around the rise and fall of political factions in the course of the rediscovery of the ancient city of Symbar within the corrupted forest called Davokar. There is six books for this campaign and it's probably comparable to things like The Enemy Within in scope. There is a summary of the campaign plot (obviously full of spoilers, so really just for GM's eyes) that you get can from DriveThruRPG: The Throne of Thorns
• There is also a number of smaller adventures, which have mostly been collected in the Symbaroum Adventure Collection.
• I assume that's not relevant for you, because you plan to use your own system, but if needed you can also buy Foundry modules for the system and the campaign in the Free League webshop

Personally, I was initially very enthused by the visuals and the idea of the setting, but because of the massive scope of the campaign and my mixed feelings about the system, I haven't followed up with it beyond reading the core books.