Right, you fa/tg/uys had made me curious about this game so,

> so why would I pick it over any other system

Same reason why you would pick other systems. Because it is suited or at least to be suited for a time of game and setting it tries to emulate.

>>50281093
>or at least tries* to be suited

>>50281093
Then what kind of game and setting is symbaroum better suited than other systems for?

>>50282015

I feel symbaroum is very similar to Warhammer Fantasy in theme and some parts of setting. You have primordial forests filled with god knows what. Pretty much old folklore stories are really fitting. "If you go alone in the forest nasty things will take you away to never be seen again." You don't play demi-gods. Maybe not even heroes. You usually play underdogs, outcasts, scum and try to survive in unforgiving world.

Stories are about common men or at least exceptional people who aren't walking gods incarnate. You can be a great knight but sword to a gut will put you down. So usually these games are grittier and people play smarter.
>Stories where you fight against the odds. You don't slay 10 balors before you need to take a rest like you do in D&D.
> Magic has consequences. in normal fantasy games you can cast with no worries on your mind. Here not so much. Corruption, insanity and other things are always near when you cast a spell. But sometimes you need to cast to survive. So what are you willing to do to stay alive?

>>50282015

> Stories where you fight things you shouldn't fight in the first place. You fight them so others can live another day. Even if you don't die in the process world will probably never know what you did. You will be unsung heroes with no glory, no reward.

> World is bleak with few happy moments filled with gloom between those moments. But that makes them more memorable in my opinion.

>You are destined to be shit on and spit on. But even then you you rise and carry on. Why? Because you look at the world, smile, and say "Is this best you got?"

Warhammer Fantasy, Symaroum, Midnight Rpg and Call of Cthulhu are all similar in approach and theme.

D&D is about going into dungeons, killing stuff and getting loot.

Sybaroum and other three are about trying to get out of a shitty situation you didn't want to be in the first place. If you are lucky you are rewarded by surviving and maybe being little better of than when you started. For example take Conan stories. He always starts with no money, no equipment, no nothing. Through the story he only gets basic stuff he needs to survive. At the end he gets some sort of reward (sometimes just being alive is a reward) and then he loses everything again at the start of next story.

>>50282594

Also in D&D you will get +5 sword of awesome.

Here you are lucky with having a good quality steel weapon. Magical weapon? Sure if you want it to be cursed as well. Power comes at a price.

This kind of setting or campaign isn't for everyone but I find these more memorable than D&D campaigns. Maybe because I love fighting a losing battle and actually winning makes it more meaningful.

This is perfect. I've been waiting for a thread to pop up. I just started up a game last week, 3 players. First exposure for all of us so I've got some questions.
If I've got some npc's in a fight should I let the players control them? Or should I for the sake of time? Also, how sparing should I be with magic items? I feel if you give to much they should have consequences, but if you do then they pry won't be keen on using any rather then take the risk. What's a happy medium?

>>50283569

If they are too many npcs make it a background noise. My group solves it in this fashion. If we bring npcs with us GM will remove the number of opponents we are facing. For example 10 guards can take 10 orcs, 10 guards can take on a ogre, or 20 can take on a giant.

You put it as background scenery. You make 3 one-dice rolls. You roll for enemy and players for npcs. Give each side bonuses or penalites. Apply casualties depending on how big of a margin of victory was.

Give each player one magic item. Nothing special but not useless. If this is not enough give them more. If they handle things with only few items there is no need to give any more handouts.

>>50283653
Sound advice. Thanks. My group has played very, very safe so far from what they know of the setting. Even just flat out avoiding hooks for fear of danger. It's great, don't get me wrong, but I'm worried they'll think every hand out is lined with thorns. I'll use my next session to gauge how safe they're planning to play

>>50280144
I like that only the players roll dice, makes it easier to stay in character as a gm.

>>50280144
pdf?