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Symbaroum: A Royal Diadem in Darkest Davokar
Your desecrated homeland can longer support life. Northward you go among a caravan of stragglers to seek a new life in the shadows of the dark forest.
TYPE
SYSTEM
LANGUAGE
EXPERIENCE
AGE
$20.00
/ Session
Details
Bi-weekly / Thursday - 11:00 PM UTC
Session Duration / 3–4 hours
2 / 5 Seats Filled
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Meet your party members
2/5
About the adventure
Welcome to the exciting dark fantasy world of Symbaroum! Your characters start as stragglers from their homeland of Alberetor, veterans of a war against the supernatural dark lords that tainted your now dead country. You seek a new home and purpose. Will you become a subject of a fellow Ambrian, the Queen? How will you interact with the barbarians in the land your people are simultaneously refugees and would-be-conquering colonializers in? Dangers flow from the dreaded forest of Davokar, as do tantalizing riches and treasures. Its ancient woods stir with malevolence - the wonder and woe. This mini-campaign would be a great place to start gaming or as an introduction to this wonderful game. Experienced gamers who have been yearning for a chance to play this game would also appreciate the opportunity. I intend to start by running the introductory scenario from the core rulebook, "The Promised Land," and continue if the group has a good fit/vibe. If everyone is enjoying themselves after the first session, we will move onto the rest of the three published adventures in "The Copper Crown" series: "The Promised Land," "The Mark of the Beast," and "Tomb of Dying Dreams." I would like to play biweekly - weekly when possible and if that's desirable. If we establish the traction, momentum, and commitment of a group with staying power, I'd like to continue with the other published adventures for Symbaroum. Perhaps the starter set next? If that's fun, we could continue onto the epic mega campaign: "The Throne of Thorns." However, continuing from "The Copper Crown" would take some downtime pauses to prep.
Game themes
Meet the Game Master
5.0
(5)
Less than a year on StartPlaying
Highly rated for: Knows the Rules, Beginner Friendly, Storytelling
About me
My name is Michael, and I've been playing and running tabletop role playing games since the 90s when I was a young teen. My first character was a paladin in AD&D 2e. I was hooked. I became a FASA fanboy; Battletech, Shadowrun, and Earthdawn became my favorites. I attended a few conventions as a teenager and learned to appreciate all kinds of RPGs: GURPS, Rifts, Cthulhu, etc. When D&D 3.X hit, I ran a ton of that for my friend group. But then I moved away, went to school, began a career in teaching, and started a family. I took a long break from gaming not thinking I'd return. But 2020 was a wild year for everyone, and I got right back into gaming. I started a local in-person group then, and we still play weekly more often than not. We have a good problem: we have too many GMs. Since I don't get to GM as much as I would like, and my kids are at that age where they spend less time with dad and more time with friends, I started a second group online using Discord and theatre of the mind. I ran one consistent Shadowrun campaign for a year and a half, running published adventures more than biweekly. This was unaffiliated with StartPlaying, which I had not heard of at the time. I have a bucket list of systems, settings, and scenarios I've always wanted to run but haven't had the opportunity to do so in person. I am looking forward to running them for you, so let's StartPlaying.
View Profile →Character creation
Creating your character
We will create characters together during session zero/one. We will use the core rule book. The options from the Advanced Player's Guide will not be allowed at this juncture. We are initially playing rules as written until we get comfortable enough to consider the APG and house rules.
What to expect
Preparing for the session
Basic Requirements: Computer, Internet, Microphone/Headset, Discord, and StartPlaying login. If you're new to tabletop role playing games, Symbaroum, or Discord, you may benefit from learning about them on YouTube. A paper copy of the character sheet and a scan/picture of the completed version would be great. A digital version PDF or screenshot would work as well.
What Michael brings to the table
These three initial adventures are tutorials to the setting and system. However, they also make a good campaign foundation by simultaneously introducing the player and character to the setting of Davokar. We are initially sticking with rules as written with a fiction first priority. We will do theater of the mind - no miniature tokens or gridded battlemaps. Play will be conducted through voicechat and dicebot over my Discord server. Relevant files may be stored there or in a shared GoogleDrive folder for the campaign. The assumption is the player group is united and PVP is currently not allowed. That would only ever change with universal player agreement over the development of a campaign.
Equipment needed to play
Internet
Computer
Microphone
Platforms used
Safety
How Michael creates a safe table
Symbaroum is firmly in the dark fantasy genre. It has elements of violence, supernatural horror, moral ambiguity, and some dark themes. Consider it like a rated R movie or TV-MA show. It is often compared to A Game of Thrones meets Princess Mononoke. If those media examples make you uncomfortable, please choose a different campaign to join. I will repeat this in the session zero. If there are immediate issues, players are encouraged to do the stoplight system or XNO cards. There will likely be a 5-10 minute biobreak some time midsession. Any player can request it. I always end the session with a short debrief including stars and wishes.
Content warnings
Safety tools used