The core system of Symbaroum proposes that monsters be evaluated on the basis of how many points of experience went into their construction. Personally I find that a lacking measure of actual difficulty. A monster with Terrify and Resolute 7 is much less dangerous than a monster with Terrify and Resolute 15, but on paper […]
Encounter Design
Help! Mystics are ruining my plans! (Encounter Design Part 4)
Back when I wrote my guide to dealing with overpowered player characters, I had originally planned to get around to writing a separate post about managing the third overpowered archetype: the Controller. I touched on some of it in the article on keeping bad guys alive – but a few topics recently came up that […]
Alternate Combat: Brawls, Games, and Chases
Symbaroum is a game system that is weighted heavily towards fighting. You may not always run a combat-heavy game, but there are few avenues for character advancement that aren’t about becoming better at killing people. However, as I touched on in my previous Encounter Design article, there are ways to frame combat that allows your […]
Help! How do I design Scenes and Narrative Encounters? (Encounter Design Part 3)
A few days later, you arrive back at Thistle Hold. The fire of the lighthouse beacon burns bright and guides you home to the familiar stench and noise of civilisation. You approach the North Gate and one of the city guards steps forward. He asks you for the usual toll: One shilling per leg and […]
Help! I can’t keep my bad guys alive! (Encounter Design Part 2)
No single target survives contact with the players. In the previous post, I talked about how to think about encounter elements that challenge unstoppable player characters. I mainly focused on abilities and traits that can put a stop to the onslaught of a targeted player character. However, this doesn’t really solve one of the other […]
Help! My Symbaroum Players are Overpowered! (Encounter Design Part 1)
“There’s this one character who’s immune to damage, and one that deals infinite hurt every turn! I can’t challenge them without also annihilating the more reasonable players! What do I do!?”