The Wrath of the Warden
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. Today at 19:00 Central European Time, the Järnringen team will be kicking off their fundraiser for Thistle Hold – Wrath […]
Articles by Paul Baldowski
Just the Battle, Not the War
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. Even the richest crop feeds on decay For the last two nights, I ran a bit of an improvised game […]
Isometric Karvosti
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Somewhat Friendly
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. I have had a request for Printer Friendly versions of the Symbaroum Reference Sheets. I have done what I can, but […]
The Ordo Septimus
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. While just a region of a wider world, the aberrant nature of Davokar makes Ambria all the more dangerous place […]
May Pact Update
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. A brief update on The Iron Pact and Symbaroum. I have been REALLY busy over the last month with another […]
The Korrigan
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. In the eaves of the Bright Forest, the free colonists have challenge enough without worrying about folklore and legends. Upon […]
The Iron Pact on Patreon
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. After posting more than 80 articles and more than 62,000 words of content, I have realised that I can […]
From ‘neath the Loam
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. Davokar is one of those places where anything becomes possible because it’s like the worst sort of Magic Wood or […]
Heirlooms and Legacies
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. The Player’s Handbook offers the option to enhance your starting equipment with an Heirloom. Essentially, you can choose a weapon […]
Z is for Zeal
Approximate time to read: 8 minutes. The A-to-Z Challenge offered an opportunity to show me just how engaged I could become with a game or setting. […]
Y is for Yes, and…
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. Not advice specific to Symbaroum and not to be used without care and consideration, but I have found in running […]
X is for Xavagunda
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. Grumpa, a lost and bewildered ogre, was adopted by a traveling theater company, which had her do the heavy work […]
W is for the Watch
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. The Queen’s Watch serves a purpose as close to general policing as to be the ideal real-world comparison, but really […]
V is for Violing
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. Stories and legends pass as entertainment and guidance, traditions of fate and fortune that fill the smoky interiors of inns […]
U is for Undead
Approximate time to read: 6 minutes. Death is not an option. Or, at least, sometimes you don’t want it to be something thrust upon a player […]
T is for Tarasque
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. The dragon was called of them that dwelled in the country Tarasque and it did make its abode about the […]
S is for Story Cubes
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. Buy Rory’s Story Cubes. Story Cubes rock. Do I really need to write more than that? Firstly, like the BBC, […]
R is for Rogues and Ruffians
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. The imperative of Queen Korinthia and her government to assign every colonist to specific areas and even specific roles has fostered […]
Q is for Questions
Approximate time to read: 4 minutes. I don’t think you can read Symbaroum and not come away without questions. Indeed, I think some of the strength […]
P is for Playmat
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. Stroke the mat. Stroke it. Now stop. Don’t touch! The Symbaroum playmat certainly drew some attention at Seven Hill this […]
O is for the One
Approximate time to read: 4 minutes. The Symbaroum setting contains a lot of significant shifts and events in a short space of time. Considering the core […]
N is for Ne’er-do-wells
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. Over the weekend, I ran a game of Symbaroum at the Seven Hills convention in Sheffield. (That’s the reason the […]
M is for More Symbaroum
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. Sorry about this one – but I have an event in Sheffield – Seven Hills – this weekend that has […]
L is for Lindaros
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. I feel like the timeline might serve as a theme for a couple of days, because while just a small […]
K is for Korinthia’s Captivity
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. When I first picked up Symbaroum and started reading it, I started from the back of the book. I worked […]
J is for Järnringen
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. Järnringen is Old Alberetorian for “iron ring”. However, the Iron Ring is not what you think. In passing, for those […]
I is for Iron Pact
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. The true nature of the Iron Pact, its extent and true purpose, remains elusive, an idea at best steeped in […]
H is for Hardship
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. Those who fail in their service to the Queen quickly find that their punishment means hard work rather than time […]
G is for Goyl
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. Out of what crypt they crawl, I cannot tell, But every night I see those stony things, Jet black, horned, […]
F is for Forest
Approximate time to read: 2 minutes. The tracks and trails of Bright Davokar offer a balance of plenty and peril. The traveller or treasure-seeker in these […]
E is for Earth Towers
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. The deep-reaching Earth Towers by the Black Leech Rift have a lot going for them, not least that marvellous name. […]
D is for Dungenesis
Approximate time to read: 4 minutes. Davokar exists as a reaction by the environment to the damage inflicted upon it. The forest would exist if the […]
C is for Camp Titan
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. Ambria has more refugee camps than the government of Queen Korinthia would care to admit. The sluggish trickle of travelers […]
B is for Building
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. The people and armies of Alberetor came to Ambria more than twenty-years ago. While bordered on the south and east by […]
A is for Attributes
Approximate time to read: 4 minutes. The eight individual Attributes make up the core of Symbaroum’s mechanics. When you challenge yourself or face a challenge you complete a […]
Dice Clocks
Approximate time to read: 7 minutes. When you have a team of people working together to achieve a specific objective, it can come down to the […]
The Long and Varied Game
Approximate time to read: 6 minutes. In my opinion, I think Symbaroum has a lot of potential for playing a long and varied game. I touched […]
The Entombed
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. When I describe the conditions in Alberetor after the war against the enemy, I make reference to radiation and comparison […]
The Entombed – Draft
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. The roiling, trembling earth lurched and sputtered like a graveyard cough, a wave of dirt and bone surging upward and […]
The Right Balance
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. If you check out the comments for the Two Characters More post, you will see Isak and me having a […]
Two Characters More
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. After spending the weekend running a game of Symbaroum at Go Play Leeds and trying out Lestra/o as a playable […]
Sear and Loathing
Approximate time to read: 5 minutes. When I ran my Symbaroum session at the weekend, the players had a chance to learn a little of the […]
One-Shot Symbaroum
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. One-shot quick-start games matter a lot. If you can sit down and run something with only 15 minutes of warm-up […]
Symbaroum at GoPlayLeeds
Approximate time to read: 3 minutes. The Gnarls got the short end of the straw again! I ran some measure of the Titan Wake adventure at […]
More Symbaroum Encounters
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. Short and simple encounters can be a life saver in a session. Whether you’re running the game on the fly […]
Not Sure If
Approximate time to read: 1 minutes. This weekend I have the opportunity run Titan Wake a second time – following the successful run last weekend at […]
Ruinous Encounters – Part 2
Approximate time to read: 8 minutes. Following on from Part 1 of Ruinous Encounters, a selection of encounter ideas based on Pär Lindström’s in-progress map, today […]
