Opinions on Symbaroum?

[TheAlkaizer]

Hi,

I recently splurged some money at my local gamestore and bought Modiphius's Conan core rulebook, but I also snatched a copy of Free League's Symbaroum core rulebook.

They're two very different systems and I've been enjoying reading through them. But I think Symbaroum is the most intriguing one of the two. The rules are very lightweight and inviting. The art is gorgeous, the book design is top-notch and the setting is really interesting.

I've convinced a few friends to give it a short try to test the system. I don't think I'll invest in the Advanced Player's Guide right now. I've been thinking either/or the Gamemaster's Guide, Monster Codex and an adventure.

So my questions are something like:

• Does the system runs as easily as it reads?
• Is the Core Rulebook plenty to run a first run; would you recommend investing in the Gamemaster's Guide and/or Monster Codex?
• Did you have a good experience with one of the official adventures? Any recommendation?
• Any tips, warnings or appreciation about the system? It's surprisingly difficult to find much online.

Thank you!

 

[Grendel_Khan]

The Gamemaster's Guide has some very good rules, tips and tables for expeditions, including lots of stuff for randomly generated encounters and ruins.

The Monster Codex is already very cool, though it might seem pretty sparse compared to similar books for other games. But the adventure hooks for each monster add real value.

 

[Marc_C]

Haven't played yet but we are in the process of creating characters. Should play in a few weeks. I did a few solitary combat simulations by myself. It works really well.

You certainly can play with just the Core Book using the two adventures at the back of the book. The system can be lethal from what I was told on the Symbaroum FB group. If players charge in like D&D they will probably die very often. Skilled Play (avoiding combat) is important in this game.

 

[Fenris-77]

I love the game. I haven't actually played it for more than a one-shot, but I've been through most of the books and have mined it heavily for bits for other games. The art by itself is enough to get me bought in.

 

[John R Davis]

Played it quite a lot when it came out. It looks great visually but I'm not sure what it was but:
It didn't seem that 'different'.
It felt a bit 'dull'.

Not sure why

 

[Marc_C]

For me the appeal is the 'relative' simplicity of the system compared to the d20 systems. Also it includes an easy to grasp and serviceable setting. It has the gritty feel I prefer for my campaigns.

I also bought the starter set which comes with 5 pre-gen characters, a rules book and a setting book (with two short missions), dice and two maps. Which gives me a total of 4 adventures to test out the system. The starter rules includes a random system to do hex crawls.

 

[Fenris-77]

The setting is awesome. I think I'm going to hack it for Trophy rather than using the original mechanics, but it's evocative as all heck.

 

[Grendel_Khan]

The setting is awesome. I think I'm going to hack it for Trophy rather than using the original mechanics, but it's evocative as all heck.

Yeah I’m using the setting right now with a totally different system (since the game was already going before they wound up plane-hopping to Ambria). It’s a great setting, and pulling into the art for VTT purposes has been really effective.

I think my only gripe with it is that it feels a little small for me—I can’t imagine running a super-long Symbaroum campaign, and while the full plot arc for the Throne of Thorns series sounds great, it’s going to take a really long time for the final book to publish.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

For me the appeal is the 'relative' simplicity of the system compared to the d20 systems. Also it includes an easy to grasp and serviceable setting. It has the gritty feel I prefer for my campaigns.

That's also my appeal. It really seems to be simple, there's few rule pages. But it also seem to be powerful enough to give the game some granularity as opposed to purely narrative systems.

 

[TheAlkaizer]

I caved in and bought the Game Master's Guide and Advanced Player's Guide. I spent two more hours digging in the first book and I'm loving almost everything I see. And as usual, Free League prove that they're in a class of their own when it comes to product quality and presentation; the books feel sturdy, of high quality, the colors are wonderful, the binding is strong and the visual design is sumptuous.