Symbaroum is a Dark Fantasy tabletop roleplaying game published in multiple languages by Swedish company Free League Publishing.
Twenty years ago, the human nation of Alberator won a Pyrrhic Victory against the Dark Lords of Lyastra. Their land was tainted and poisoned by the war, prompting a slow migration to the north.
Now the new realm of Ambria has been founded as Alberator's northern successor. Ambria's a frontier kingdom that's claiming territory previously held by barbarians and gradually clearing the vast forest of Davokar. However, the cursed ruins of a far older empire lie within Davokar, and the forest's elves are insistent that its secrets must remain undisturbed.
Players take on the role of treasure hunting adventurers, exploring ancient ruins within the forest. They'll also face mundane and mystical threats within Ambria itself.
In addition to some smaller adventures, a six-part campaign, "The Chronicle of the Throne of Thorns", has been published. Events in the campaign significantly change the setting.
In addition to its own unique rules system, the setting has been converted for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Symbaroum contains examples of the following tropes:
- The Ageless: Nefarani, introduced in the "Monster Codex", are ancient warriors who don't seem to age. It's believed that they are the last survivors of a warrior elite from fallen Symbar. In modern times, less than 30 still survive, travelling together and offering their skills in battle.
- All Trolls Are Different: Trolls are large, ruled by fits of rage, and sometimes grow larger enough to lead whole bands of 'normal' sized trolls. Rumors about positively colossal beings called Arch Trolls have not been fully confirmed. Trolls, ogres, and goblins are all the same species in different stages of development. Goblins who get old enough wander into the forest to die but actually undergo a metamorphosis. Ogres are blank slates and either wander following their emotional state or are adopted and taught by other groups. Trolls have a society, primarily underground, and a cultural ethic that they feel separates them from ogres but the actual differences between them are often vague. The common 'rage trolls' that most humans know are the ones who never got brought into the larger troll society and wandered up to the surface world.
- Artifact of Doom: "Yndaros — the Darkest Star" confirms that anyone who physically or magically touches the immensely powerful Throne of Thorns will be transformed into a corrupted Throne Beast. The use of Rosáe to harness the throne will allow a skilled user to draw on its power without losing their identity or immediately being corrupted, but still carries huge risks. Much of the rest of the campaign involves factions fighting over access to Rosáe, with the player characters choosing a side or trying to destroy the throne entirely.
- The Atoner: "Yndaros — the Darkest Star" reveals that Kalthar, the Dark Lord of Lyastra, deeply regretted how his plans for magical power warped his nation, and has spent the time since his supposed death warning Queen Korinthia not to repeat his mistakes. He now refuses to use his powers at all, only breaking that vow in "Alberetor — The Haunted Waste" to try to destroy the Rosáe and prevent Korinthinia taking control of the Throne of Thorns.
- Binding Ancient Treaty: Deconstructed. The elves claim that the Iron Pact, the treaty they signed with the humans of Symbaroum, is still binding, and that humans therefore have no right to enter Davokar and the elves are well within their rights to kill any trespassers. Humans, on the other hand, argue that Symbaroum fell over a millenium ago, and that whatever treaties the elves may or may not have had with Symbaroum do not apply to the states that sprung up in its place. Also, since the settlers in Davokar are refugees from nation-ending disasters, it's highly unlikely they would be in a position to honor the Iron Pact if they wanted to.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Humans generally see elves as evil largely because elves seem to have no moral issue with killing humans or any non-elves. Scholars believe they simply see the world differently than humans do.
- City Guards: Played with. Thistle Hold, the primary departure site for most adventures, is known for its extremely draconian law enforcement and for the efficiency of its town guards. Crime and corruption plague the town but on the streets order is generally maintained.
- Changeling Tale: Elves kidnap human children and replace them with a distinct subrace of elven children. The abducted human children are brought up to act as emissaries and diplomats, or at least to pad out the numbers of the dwindling elf-folk. The elf-kin left in their place are left more to their own devices.
- Church Militant: The Church of Prios, the Lawgiver, used to be one of a number of cults dedicated to folk gods. Prios was a sun god and a generally positive, protective figure. During the war with the Dark Lords the worship of Prios gradually changed into a monotheistic religion and Prios become the one true god, the Lawgiver. In the present day a large section of the church is dedicated to actively attacking the perceived enemies of Prios. The Twilight Friars take on an inquisition type role while Knights of the Dying Sun and other holy orders create paladins for the church.
- The Corruption: The central hazard of the setting is a dark spiritual force located in the depths of Davokar, known simply as "Corruption".
- Dark Fantasy: Moral ambiguity, the very real risk of spiritual corruption, and a link between corruption and magic, all melded with a Medieval European Fantasy setting.
- Death Faked for You: "Yndaros — the Darkest Star" reveals that Queen Korinthia actually saved her captor Kalthar, the Dark Lord of Lyastra, Although the world thinks he died at the end of the war, he's been her prisoner and advisor ever since.
- Eldritch Abomination: Everyone is pretty sure there's several of these in the darker places of the forest Davokar. The exact nature of the 'evil corruption' that exists in the forest is up for debate in universe but the things it makes probably qualify.
- The Fair Folk: Elves of Davokar. Most elves are distant from the other races. They go through stages of development and become stronger, larger, and more mystically powerful as they age.
- Humanity Came from Space: The sorcerer Katrandama claimed that humans came from another world, the corrupted "Yonderworld", not from another continent. The Curia has declared this "contentious and heretical", and only a handful of mystics believe it. As "The Chronicle of the Throne of Thorns" reveals, it's actually true. A handful of the original human voyagers still live elsewhere in the world, far from Davokar.
- Medieval European Fantasy: Symbaroum heavily resembles a magical version of Medieval Sweden in its visuals, aesthetics and terrain.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Dwarves are a race of short humanoids believed to have been magically engineered as a Slave Race by the Empire of Symbaroum before its fall. They are incredibly clan-focused, to the point that their laws can primarily be boiled down to "nothing you do to a non-family member is a crime, unless it somehow endangers the family".
- Our Elves Are Different: There are multiple kinds of elves in Davokar, each of which plays with different stereotypes for elves in fantasy. Spring elves are small and tricky, playing (possibly lethal) pranks on those who cross their path. Summer elves are arrogant and frequently skilled archers. Autumn elves are tall, regal, and command mystical power. All 'types' of elf are actually just different life stages of the same species. Elves literally hibernate and change their form as they age, growing larger and more powerful each time they awaken from their coma. Some scholars believe that unique monsters in the forest might actually be ancient elves multiple transformations beyond the ones that humans have encountered so far.
- Our Goblins Are Different: Goblins are smaller than humans and widely regarded to have poor hygiene and be below humans in the social order. Goblins have short lifespans, usually between thirty and forty years. They are also the 'larval' form for ogres and trolls.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: A big part of why Queen Korinthia is so respected and admired by her people is that she's a war hero who rode into battle against the Dark Lords and their undead soldiers.
- Shout-Out: The name of the world Symbaroum is set in is Alberetor, an anagram of Ereb Altor, which was the setting of Drakar & Demoner.
- Spider People: Arachs are humanoid spider-folk with four spider-eyes, seven-jointed limbs and a toxic bite. It's believed that they gradually become less humanoid and acquire more spider features. They were servants of the Spider King, created by converting the king's humanoid enemies, and are believed extinct since the barbarians of Karvosti defeated the Spider King. The "Monster Codex" includes rules for creating surviving Arachs as antagonists, but they play no part in the published scenarios.
