A spot of D&D, and my life at the moment.

Greetings all, from somewhere deep inside the Tabletop Multiverse!

A lot of things have happened since my last post here, earlier in the month. Not least of which, that I have become a father for the first time. That's right folks! The Tabletop Multiverse has finally gotten an heir.

In more tabletop RPG related news, there really isn't much news. Most of my time has gone to changing diapers, helping the baby's mommy any way I can, and taking naps with the baby.

The new 5e campaign - where we are starting off by playing through the Storm King's Thunder adventure module, and then see where we go after that - I mentioned in my last post has been put on hold until August 11. Partly due to my baby situation, but mostly due to our DM having some IRL stuff that got in the way until then. I look forward to when it returns though. :)

My young wizard, and his raven companion, is a lot of fun to play for me. It has been ages since I last played a wizard, and I have strangely never played one in either 5th or 4th edition D&D. 

Yes. I have played 4th edition. And you know what? I had fun. I don't necessarily think that 4th edition is a bad game system. It is very good for what it is. Mostly though, I have fond memories of playing it because I have had a lot of fun with my friends while doing it. We have a 4e campaign that is currently in its... 6th year, I think it is? While it is nearing its end, it IS still ongoing. Once that ends though, I have no idea whether we will continue the next campaign using 4th edition, or switch it to 5th edition instead. I am fine either way, though I think I would prefer giving 5th edition more of a chance as I haven't yet played it very much.

Other than that, I am spending what little free-time I have at the moment, working on the game system, and world, for my own fantasy tabletop rpg. It still doesn't have a name unfortunately. Mostly because I can't make up my mind on what I want to call it. Though I am sure it will get one eventually, and when it does, I will probably mention it in here. :) Apart from that, I am also doing a bit of work on the side, on a separate tabletop rpg project that is more focused on mystery and horror. It has a name, but it is still very early days, so I won't reveal it just yet. I have a ton of other ideas as well. :)

Anyway, time for me to go help with the baby.

Until next time!

Thoughts & Updates

Today I greet you once more from somewhere in the infinite expanse of the Tabletop Multiverse!

I hope my greeting finds you all well, and in good spirit. My hope is that you are all enjoying the summer (provided that it is summer where you currently are), and if not that whatever season you are in treats you kindly.

Over here, it's been unusually warm, something I have understood has been a rather common occurrence in many places this summer. A bit of rain wouldn't go amiss, but there's not much we can do besides wait and see what comes.

Again, I apologize for my absence. Most of my time have gone towards other things. In fact, I have barely even been able to play any tabletop rpgs in this time! Hopefully things will start to get better on that front soon enough.

I have found some time to work on my own tabletop rpg however. I love working on it, and I love the project, but I am not going to lie and say that it doesn't feel a tad overwhelming at times. It is not enough to dissuade me from working on it however, which is good. I guess it is the price you pay when you are trying to make a tabletop rpg from scratch, all by yourself.

I am lucky that I have a few friends online who are willing to help me play-test it. Though they are forced to wait long times for it between play-testing sessions, as there is still a lot of work to do on the project. My hope - I guess I should say "dream" really -, as I have mentioned before, is to be able to have it published some day. I know it is a competitive market, and I know it can be difficult, but I am not expecting to make a lot of money from it. I am just trying to chase a dream I've had for a very long time, and make it come true some day. Any money I am able to make off of it, will be a bonus, and will be going towards supporting my family as money is tight.

Anyway, with working alone on it, and the size of the project, I am not expecting it to be done any time soon. Probably not even this year. But I'll keep people updated on the progress through this blog, if anyone is interested.

I am hoping to return with more reviews, and thoughts, on tabletop role-playing games, and gaming, as I go along as well.

For now, I wish you all well, and I hope I'll see you all soon again, somewhere in the vast expanse of the Tabletop Multiverse.

Until next time!

Player influence on the setting & GM dice rolling trends

Greetings from somewhere inside the infinite expanse of the Tabletop Multiverse.

There's been a trend in the last few year - or longer? I'm honestly not sure - to make the GM's side of playing RPGs more 'lightweight' and streamlined, putting more of the focus on the players and giving them a greater influence in helping to build the world they are playing in. Some games even put the dice rolling in the hands of the players in order to free up the GM to focus more on the storytelling.

Generally speaking I am ok with this. Though I am not sure I understand it fully. As a GM, I am generally able to focus on the storytelling anyway. The rolling of dice has never really struck me as something that detracts from that. Though others might view it differently, of course. To me, it just feels like a natural part of it, that the GM rolls for the NPCs etc.

Then again, I fully agree that dice rolling should NEVER get in the way of the storytelling. Generally speaking, unless it actually matters you don't really need to roll dice for it. I am not going to make my players roll dice for walking down the street or do something that is routine for them unless there are external factors - like stress, gunfire, slippery surfaces, jumping over a chasm, or other things - that warrants them actually making rolls.

Having players be part of the world-building process through the medium of their characters is also something that feels kind of natural to me. It generally helps to build a fantastic world in the end, that will be more memorable to all due to the natural connection that the players, and their characters, feel to the world having had a part in shaping it. Also as a GM I find that it can be beneficial as it helps bring the world to life and someone else might think of something cool that you didn't think about. Only thing to keep an eye on is really to make sure that what they, the players, want to put into the world actually fits with the setting. If you can't justify a giant mech in your fantasy setting, don't put it in just because a player thinks it would be cool. Just saying. Then again, you might be able to re-flavour it into something that could fit a bit better. Taking the mech from the example above you might be able to re-flavour it into a golem or magical construct of some sort. In the end, you as a GM have the final say, and responsibility, to make it all fit together.

If you haven't tried letting your players have a say in the world-building, I would recommend it. At least give it a try and see what you think.

Granted, I don't always do that either. I think it depends a bit on who the players are, and also some projects you want full control as a GM. For example, I am not going to let the players help me design a dungeon for a dungeon crawl. I want it to be a surprise and give them the full experience of the dungeon crawl.

I think player influence is good, but I am personally not convinced by the whole 'putting all the dice rolling in the hands of the players' thing. Granted, there are games out there who does it really well and have a well thought out system and mechanics for it. I enjoy those as well, but I think my preference will always be for the GM to be able to roll dice as well. If that makes me 'old school' by today's standards, then so be it.

Nothing can make the players nervous like the GM suddenly rolling a few dice, silently nod to him- or herself, and then continue on with the storytelling as if nothing had happened.

Then again, to each their own. I would highly recommend you try a few different systems out to see what kind of system you and your players like best. That goes regardless of whether you are relatively new to the whole tabeltop roleplaying thing, or if you have played for years but mostly stuck to the same small group of games. Nothing wrong with the latter, but it can always be good to try and experience new things.

Until we meet again, somewhere in the vast expanse of the Tabletop Multiverse.

Progress

Greetings fellow citizens of the Multiverse!

Again, sadly, IRL stuff has taken hold of my time and I have been unable to write in here as often as I might have liked.

I have been getting some stuff done though. I have FINALLY been able to make a map that I am half-way decently satisfied with for my world-building project. It is a map of the northern-most continent, and I am very happy to have it mostly done. I am still tweaking it and changing bits and pieces here and there, but the general lay-out of it should be ok. I've been wanting to have these maps done for quite some time now as I feel that they (this map and other ones I have in the pipeline) will help me visualize the world more clearly. It is one thing having a bunch of pages of written text, but once you see it come alive on a map it really helps bring it all to life. At least for me it does. Also the maps help me to keep track of things.

As the eagle-eyed reader might have noticed, yes, that means I have been spending time learning to use Campaign Cartographer 3+. It and I are slowly coming to an understanding. It still has a few things about it that annoys me from time to time, but then again no program can do everything. And honestly, half the times it is probably (it is) I who have done something wrong and the program is simply doing what I just told it to do.

Overall I would say that CC3+ is a very good program for map-making. I do think I will need to sink some more money into it in the long-run if I want to be able to make all the maps properly that I want to make. Though that is for later.

On the world-building front there has also been a bit of writing done. Not as much as I would have liked perhaps, but then again a lot of that time has gone into the map-making instead, so I guess it is for a good cause.

I really can't wait for the time when I have the world at such a stage that I can try playing some kind of tabletop RPG in it with friends. :) Which tabletop RPG that might be though, I haven't got a clue yet. I might even end up running with the home-made rule-set I have been working on. In a way, I am kind of hoping that I can do that. It would be fun to try out a rule-set that has actually been made for that world. But we shall see.

Time for me to sign off for now.

Until next time!

Reflections on my world-building project and mechanics

Greetings fellow tabletop enthusiasts!

A lot is going on over here with regards to IRL stuff, so I once again apologise for the lack of posts. However this blog is something I am doing out of my own free will because I like it, and it is not earning me any money, so I am not really sure why I just apologised for not blogging more often. XD lol Oh well.

I'm still working on my world-building project, as well as finding that I have renewed energy to work on the game mechanics for it as well. Not to mention I might have found another little game-mechanics side-project that I am also working on. It might seem like much, but switching between the two helps keeping me from getting too tired of one project, and both projects also help spawn ideas for eachother, so that is good. Yes. I am talking about game mechanics for tabletop RPGs here. :)

While the first set of mechanics is meant to be used with the world I am also creating, if I ever get to run a tabletop RPG game in it, the second set of mechanics is a bit different. They have nothing to do with the world I am building, but is more meant to be used for a Noir-style game, or a heist-game or similar thing. It feels different than what I am making for my world, and it should. Again, neither of these systems will probably ever be made into something I will sell or any kind of official product, but even if I am just intending for them to be used by me and my friends (if the systems ever get that far in development that is), I still want to do it right and not just take an already existing system, add a few houserules and be done with it. I'm not saying that doing it that way is wrong however, I am only saying that I want to try and build it from scratch instead. I enjoy the challenge. Admittedly, chances are that in the end some rules might be similar to things that already exist elsewhere, etc. It is almost impossible to do something completely, 100% original, as so many game systems already exist out there. But hey, if it is just for me and my friends, I don't really think it matters. :)

Sadly I have not been practising my map-making skills any more lately. I really should get back to that, but I rarely seem to find the time, or something else has my attention instead. I will try and get back to it when I can, but I have learned not to force it or promise too much. I will get to it when I get to it, basically. Maps will be a useful tool for me, I know this. They will act as a reference point as I continue to build the world. Writing is all good, but it isn't until I put it down on a map that I can see the actual relations and borders between different nations, cultures and races. It is an invaluable tool for me.

I think that is all for this time.

See you all later!

Review Time: Let's take a look at the Symbaroum tabletop RPG

Greetings fellow travellers on the twisting roads of the tabletop multiverse!

Today, I though I would give my thoughts on one of the latest tabletop RPGs to come out of Sweden. As a Swedish person myself, who grew up playing a lot of other Swedish tabletop games back in the day, it is good to see the resurgence that swedish tabletop RPG's have had in the last few years, and continue to have. Symbaroum is a product of Swedish company Järnringen. While Symbaroum isn't a new version of an old game, like a lot of the others are, it instead is a brand new game which has had some remarkable success since it came out. It quickly got an english translation and it has just kept on going since then.

Let's start off by taking a look at the game itself.

So, what's the game like?

Symbaroum is a dark fantasy game set in a rather dark, grim, and deadly world. The world itself is well-defined as it takes place in and around the vast and mysterious Davokar forest. Symbaroum is the name of the region, or rather - as the book explains - it is the name of the civilization which dominated the region up to about 1000 years prior to when the game is set.

The Symbaroum core rulebook is broken down into three sections, or 'books': The World of Symbaroum, Player's Guide and Game Master's Guide. At the end of the book there is a 20-page adventure which can also be downloaded from the company Järnringen's website.

The first book is all about the fluff. Here you can find information about the world, the setting, and the history, etc of the region. It also takes a look at the various factions that exist in the world - for example the noble houses of Ambria, the settlers of the land, the barbarian clans, the church of Prios, Ordo Magica (a magical order), the elves of the Iron Pact, etc. It is also worth pointing out that the elves of the Iron Pact are not the friendly, exotic and pointy-eared humanoids that we are accustomed to from a lot of other fantasy games and worlds. These elves protect the deeper parts of Davokar against intrusion, and won't hesitate to kill intruders on sight. 

There is also Thistle Hold, the last bastion of civilization just before the edge of the forest. It is a well fortified town, and a center of activity, both opportunity and crime. It is not, however, the capital of Ambria, that honor goes to Yndaros instead. And there is a chapter describing it as well. Finally we have Karvosti, a plateau next to a lake on the western side of Davokar. It is the place where the barbarian folk hold their Thingstead twice a year

All in all, the first book does a really good job of setting the tone.

Book two deals with the rules, without the fluff. The system is an amalgam of crunchy, dice-based systems and more narrative storytelling based ones. It feels solid and is good for putting the characters in the spotlight. Each character belongs to one of three Archetypes, which are essentially generic classes. They are the Warrior, the Mystic and the Rogue. These in turn split into several occupations. For example, a Warrior can be a Berserker, a Captain, a Duelist, a Knight or a Sellsword.

There are eight Attributes in the game: Accurate, Cunning, Discreet, Persuasive, Quick, Resolute, Strong and Vigilant. You don't roll dice in character creation. Instead you can either divide 80 points between the eight Attributes, giving hem numbers ranging between 5 and 15, or you can use eight preset values, the sum-total of which add up to 80, and divide them between the Attributes as you see fit.

The system uses a d20 dice, and you roll either equal to or below your Attribute value to succeed. Also, it is the players who make ALL the rolls. The GM never rolls. Instead the GM is meant to focus on the storytelling. The game uses Abilities to personalize and differentiate the characters. The Abilities are ranked Novice, Adept and Master, signifying the level of power or skill the character has in each individual Ability. 

There are four races that players can choose between when making their characters. They are: Humans (diversified by the choice of Ambrian or Barbarian), Changelings (basically humans with elven characteristics), Ogres and Goblins. I like this as it helps describe the setting as well. There isn't the plethora of standard fantasy races (though some more might be introduced later), which helps describe the setting really well.

The last chapter of the second book deals with Combat and what a player is supposed to know rules-wise. One thing is that the world of Symbaroum is deadly, and so combat is also deadly. 

Book three is the Game Master's Guide, and as you would expect it contains information about rewards, advice, special rules and how to enforce them, etc. It also contains rules on Corruption (one of the basic premises of the game), the Shadow that each living being has and the changes that Corruption brings to it, etc. There is advice on how to build an adventure or a campaign set in the world of Symbaroum, as well as a beastiary.

Before I move on to the next part, I just want to mention the art. It is amazing, and really fits the mood they have been trying to go for in the game. It is dark, grim and mysterious and helps to set the tone as you read through the book. The art masterfully reflects the world they are depicting.

My thoughts

These days, there is a plethora of fantasy tabletop roleplaying games out there. Most of which draw inspiration from Tolkien and/or giants in the genre such as, for example, Dungeons & Dragons. Symbaroum however, feels fresh and different, with its dark fantasy setting. That might be part of the reason why it has done so incredibly well, not just in Sweden but internationally as well. 

As for playing the game, it is a very good and solid game to play, and I have had a lot of fun with it. If you want to play a dark fantasy game, where your character can actually die, but which also rewards you with a well-designed system where the players roll ALL the dice, and which also has good storytelling aspects to it, then Symbaroum might be right up your alley. The rules are fairly easy to get the hang of, and combined with the atmosphere of the setting, it is something different and something I think a lot of you people out there will enjoy if you give it a try.

So, where can I find Symbaroum if I want to give it a try?

You can find information about it on Järnringen's website. 

If you want to buy it, you can find it on Järnringen's online store or over at drivethrurpg.com.

A world-building project

Greetings!

For a while now I have been working on building a fantasy world. It is not something I am making for a specifit tabletop roleplaying campaign, or anything like that. Instead, it is something I am doing because I love doing it. Because I wanted to see what I could make if I gave myself complete creative freedom and didn't tie myself down by time-limits or to a specific adventure. I love building worlds, and the creative process that goes into it. Making all the pieces fit together, and making it both wonderous as well as making it make sense in some way. I find it all to be a very interesting intellectual challenge. :)

A friend of mine, who is also someone I have played tabletop roleplaying games with on occasion, has however convinced me to run a campaign in this world at some point. It will happen, but I will let the world take shape first and have the campaign be inspired by the world rather than the other way around.

The same friend has also convinced me to work on a game system for this campaign, rather than just using something that is already availiable. I was very hesitant at first, as I have never done anything like that before, but now I have found that I quite enjoy it and that I really find it an interesting intellectual challenge as well. Granted, it most likely won't ever be anything that I will make any money off of, but rather it will with 99% certainty only be a system that I use when playing in this particular fantasy world with my friends. That spare 1% is missing because life has taught me that you can never be 100% sure. Still, even though I am not planning on making an actual tabletop RPG out of it and selling it, I still find the creative process to be so much fun that I actually am putting a lot more effort into it than I originally thought I would.

So far the world-building has been going well, for the most part at least. I have material for about four different continents at the moment, but I need to put everything together. There are so many ideas in my head that I want to somehow incorporate into this world, but I know I can't use them all. So some might be saved for a later project or campaign. That being said, I already have ideas for probably two or three other worlds as well, so the left-over materials will definitelly get used.

Until next time!