Symbaroum - new to FGU and Symbaroum - questions/thoughts

[GrumpyOldAndy]

I just bought FG Unity and the Symbaroum ruleset last week, and plan on running it starting next week sometime. I've been watching tutorials and trying to get my head round it, a few things seem odd though. Not sure whether this is me being new, FGU, or Symbaroum.

1) Maps and Scaling.
Symbaroum is based in metric. FGU seems to be based in imperial. Shouldn't be a problem, until I try and put tokens on maps. All the Symbaroum tokens have space 2 reach 2. All PC tokens have space 5, reach 5. I can only find the size setting in the combat tracker. It is obviously easier to make the PC's size/reach 2 than change everything in the Symabroum set. However, when I put token on the map and scale it, the distance measurement is obviously very wrong as it reports in feet, when it is scaled to metres.
Also, if a PC is removed from the combat tracker and re-added, the size/reach is set back to default of 5/5.
Is there an easy way to fix this?

2)Maps and distance
Distance is measured from centre of token to centre. Is there a way to make it edge to edge? So if there are 2 squares between 2 tokens it says 2 instead of 3.

2)Map movement
Is there a way to limit a PC's movement to the default 10m movement action on their turn when in combat? Or 20m when giving up the combat action for movement? Or at least put a marker where the token started so you can see how they have moved.

3)Combat tracker - Is there a way to prevent a PC from rolling the attack dice when it is not their turn in the combat tracker?
Someone did that by accident and it automatically did the damage and removed the hit points from the test NPC. Obviously, this is harder in Symbaroun as players need to roll their defence when attacked outside their turn, or offence for a free attack.
An undo the last roll option would be a good compromise.

4) Spells - duration check
Certain spells seem to have a duration where the player makes a check to see if it continues at the start of each of their turns. Is there a way to get the resolute value automatically from the targeted NPC, or does the player have to manually modify the roll?

5) Character sheets
Noted in other threads - the formatting seems to gone haywire in part, with text missing, probably a unity thing which will be fixed in a patch.
Can't drag race onto the race space on the character sheet. Not a big deal, really. You can drag it into the Abilities box.
Equipped and carried seem to do nothing on the inventory sheet.

6) Story - an observation (also applies to encounters)
The story tab for the included adventure - The Promised Land is completely empty. I also bought the Copper Kettle adventures, and the story tab is pre-filled with chapters from it. Makes life somewhat easier.

7)Vehicle button
No idea what this is supposed to be or do, as there is nothing in it. Then again, there are no vehicles in the Symbaroum rules, that I've found so far anyway.


Thanks.

[Valyar]

Hi GrumpyOldAndy,


1) Maps and Scaling.
This is bug and I think it will be fixed soond. The Size/Reach is something defined in CoreRPG and when there is grid on the map the values are taken into account to increase the size of the token according to the grid.
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...ngs-Extension-

2)Maps and distance
Not sure what you mean, but for me edge-to-edge provides the correct value. Check the attached screenshot. Also you can take a look at this mod that you can use to make custom distance based on your needs https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...light=distance

2)Map movement
You can use the above extension and enable token lock, so you approve each move of player on the map. brings overhead to the GM but this way you can deny them move if you think they went too far. The token lock feature is part of the ruleset, the suggestion for extension is to be able to set proper distance on maps.

3)Combat tracker
I none of the rulesets I own there is such mechanic. It might be not supported in the CoreRPG and scripts. Also as this is not PC it will be very complex to program. I would say accidental roll can happen and GM can roll back, but if the player is constantly doing inadequate actions, maybe hand over the user manual?

4) Spells - duration check
In principles, players should have targeting enabled and the spell should be configured with opposed checks. If it is not the case you can modify it. Can you tell me which spell you refer to?

5) Character sheets
As inconvenient as it might be, FGU is in beta... but I can't comment on what the issue is, when I was testing Symbaroum all was good, I presume an update messed something and got fixed (i refer to this thread - https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...haracter-Sheet

6) Story - an observation (also applies to encounters)
Yes, the adventures are in Reference Manual at the moment. Simple can comment if there are plans to bring them as stories.

7)Vehicle button
This is inherited from CoreRPG and while the game has no vehicle rules, there are uses of this library. For example in my Copper Crown campaign I was putting notes there for ships they used to travel to Malgomor and things they had in the carts.

[GrumpyOldAndy]

Hi GrumpyOldAndy,

Hi and thanks for the detailed reply.

2)Maps and distance
Not sure what you mean, but for me edge-to-edge provides the correct value. Check the attached screenshot. Also you can take a look at this mod that you can use to make custom distance based on your needs https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...light=distance

I'll take a look at the extension later today, thanks. Hopefully that will fix things. You can see my current 'problem' from these two screenshots. The distance reported between the models is number of squares +1. I think this is a unity thing, as I remember reading somewhere that token measurement was done centre to centre.

4) Spells - duration check
In principles, players should have targeting enabled and the spell should be configured with opposed checks. If it is not the case you can modify it. Can you tell me which spell you refer to?

From the Symabroum rules, page 140 in the latest pdf, Mystical Powers.
Ongoing Effect: The effect of the power is active until the character fails a specific test, detailed in the description of the power. This test is repeated every turn on the character’s Initiative. Keeping an ongoing effect running counts as a Free Action.

The spell was Maltransformation at Novice level.
Novice Active. With a successful roll against Resolute the mystic can turn a target into a harmless beast (mammal or reptile, the mystic decides which). The target stays in that form until the mystic breaks concentration or fails a [Resolute←Resolute] test. This test is made each turn on the mystic’s Initiative. The harmless animal keeps the target’s original Attributes but none of its abilities or powers and can neither attack nor use items.

The only way the player found to roll for duration using the modifiers, was to cast the spell again, but that obviously gave him more corruption.
As I am new to this maybe I missed something?

5) Character sheets

Missing titles fixed in latest patch



Thanks again for the reply.

[GrumpyOldAndy]

One more issue I have found, I cannot create weapons or armour to add to the item list. Going though the Promised Land, I was creating treasure parcels to hand out the loot, and discovered that most of the NPC's were using items not in the equipment table. I can create things like Lucky Charm, which have no value besides monetary, but they had Leather Cuirass (Impeding) and Spear, neither of which are in the item list. I have not (yet) found a way to create these items to add them to the equipment list so they can just be dragged and dropped as normal onto the players sheets if they choose to use them.

[Valyar]

I don't use Unity. It is not stable and the performance is not on an acceptable levels. The players are having meltdown on their computers and one of them even have BSOD after some time running unity. So the issue with the map distance measurement is not applicable to the Classic instance of the program. I hope the extension solves the issue, but if it doesn't then this is something that is Unity-related and hopefully can be solved in future patches.

On the spells - Yes, i know what you mean, the nature of the checks in Symbaroum and how maintenance works on the opposite of how it works with other game systems. I am sure there is no codebase for that mechanic and it requires custom coding. To avoid any corruption points and re-casts of spells that require maintenance, I am using effects(conditions) that I apply on NPS with spell name and ask the players to roll with the respective modifier. Another approach I did was to make custom ability that is "Spell Maintenance" that makes opposed Resolute vs Resolute checks when targeting a NPC.

On the items - I presume you want to drag and drop from inventory library to the "Equipment & Combat" box in the Main tab? This works only for items part of the module, for custom items you don't have the necessary fields in the item sheet. But I found that I don't need that because it is very easy to make new items. Also the game does not have that many items. But this is my take on the matter, I know other people would prefer rich library with every possible option. But for me the Symbaroum way of doing it fits (and to all my players).

[GrumpyOldAndy]

I worked out how to create new weapons and armour. From the item menu dragging a weapon of the type you wish to create into the item menu creates a duplicate you can edit and share. For example, create a copy of pike, rename it spear, remove (Precise) from the name and you have the default long weapon. Putting qualities in brackets by the name adds them to the duplicate item.
Not exactly intuitive, but easy enough when you know how.

Has there been any attempt to add the advanced players guide to the ruleset?

[Valyar]

Has there been any attempt to add the advanced players guide to the ruleset?

Yes, the APG will be available as separate product. No ETA yet.

[rodney418]

I worked out how to create new weapons and armour. From the item menu dragging a weapon of the type you wish to create into the item menu creates a duplicate you can edit and share. For example, create a copy of pike, rename it spear, remove (Precise) from the name and you have the default long weapon. Putting qualities in brackets by the name adds them to the duplicate item.
Not exactly intuitive, but easy enough when you know how.

That's a great tip, but I'm surprised that the default weapons and armor aren't in there already. Seems like that would be obvious.

[GrumpyOldAndy]

That's a great tip, but I'm surprised that the default weapons and armor aren't in there already. Seems like that would be obvious.

It is probably because the default are called things like, for armour, Light, Medium and Heavy, so whoever put the table in just thought they were headings rather than an actual item. Same for weapons.