No Unpleasant Surprises
Newcomers to any game have a lot of questions to ask and I hope those who already play those games can offer some good advice. A new […]
Articles by Paul Baldowski
A is for Ambra Assailed
The streets of Ambra are alive with people. Sometimes, you have to remind yourself where you are, what sort of situation we find ourselves in. […]
What’s a Scene?
The basis of an adventure in Symbaroum, a Scene stands as a means to determine the ‘value’ of an adventure — or just a session […]
Le Pacte De Fer
I can hardly believe that I have been reading, playing and gamemastering Symbaroum for more than a year and running The Iron Pact for most […]
Quick Arrow Reclamation
The Symbaroum Advanced Player’s Guide (APG) includes a whole selection of optional mechanics in the Alternative Rules section. Some will work for you, some not. If you […]
Theme Reveal for April
I missed the Theme Reveal day for the A-to-Z Challenge, which was Monday, 20th March. However, I can easily make up for that right now; […]
Casting Checks
Someone put forward the following question on Reddit around the use of Mystical Powers in Symbaroum. Hey guys. Quick question regarding PCs and the use […]
Advanced Player’s Handbook
The diehard English-speaking fans of Symbaroum have been translating the Spelarens Handbok since Day 1. Somehow, this volume of Swedish gaming goodness became a must-have; a grail […]
A-to-Z Challenge 2017
I hope to have the planning wherewithal to participate in the A-to-Z Challenge this year – as I did in 2016. I have to say […]
Mystical Dozen
I am happy to add a new gathering of Mystical Treasures to the Symbaroum Resources page, contributed by Candacis (and previously posted on the Reddit […]
Ability Quick Reference Cards
After a long delay in making progress, I have added the seventh sheet to the Symbaroum Ability Quick Reference Cards. In addition, I have updated […]
More Strange Remnants
I posted a list of strange remains of the Symbaroum Empire in Archaeology Today – and it occurred to me that I haven’t posted to Twitter […]
Archaeology Today
The Monte Cook Games setting/system Numenera describes a truly ancient Earth where nine great civilisations have risen and fallen over millions of year. These civilisations […]
Monstrous Traits
Should Monstrous Traits be more generic? I had that strange thought the other day while looking through some of the reference material I’ve already created. […]
Symbaroum Resources
Following a discussion on Slack, I offer up the services of The Iron Pact as a clearing house for links to resources for Symbaroum across the […]
Davokar Persists
If you don’t have quite enough places to chat about Symbaroum, it would be well worth your time downloading (or accessing) Slack and join in […]
A Light to Return Home By
That which rests beneath the earth does not necessarily stay there, especially in the lands north of the great Titan Mountains. The Iron Pact set […]
Care With Names
I ran an extended game of The Wheel of Misfortune yesterday, using the rules for The Symbaroum Funnel. This created a bunch of zero Experience […]
Seal the Wounds
While travellers and treasure-seekers enter the eaves of Davokar with the reasonable expectation of the dangers to come, that’s not to say that they cannot find […]
The Cow and the Recharge
I will be running Symbaroum at Concrete Cow for the morning session (10am) in Milton Keynes, 10th September 2016. The Wheel of Misfortune Since the […]
Who You Know
While the Contacts Trait appears in the Symbaroum Core Book as a Trait, generally associated with the player’s choice of race for their character, in […]
Monastery of the Twilight Friars
It’s artwork that pulled me into Symbaroum. And it continues to intrigue, fascinate and beguile me. Seriously, some of the imagery leaves me gawking at […]
Favor and Disfavor
Symbaroum has a simple system for handling the challenges presented to characters. When challenged directly, players roll against one of their Attributes modified by the […]
This and That
The session of Symbaroum I ran over the weekend, for Free RPG Day at Fanboy 3, was unashamedly lighter and less grim that those I normally […]
Wrath of the Warden – Day 2
I almost feel I have always been reading and playing Symbaroum. I find it a bit hard to believe that I only picked up the […]