Fantasy Fridays: Symbaroum

 Today at 9:46 Central Time, the March, Vernal, or Spring Equinox takes place. The moment of equal day and equal night. Now the sun gains ascendance. The perfect metaphor for the Dark Fantasy RPG Symbaroum.

I have been fascinated with Symbaroum, along with Vassen, ever since I saw them at Free League's booth a couple of Gen Cons ago. I grabbed the hardcover of Vassen since the Victorian era interested me more, but I grabbed the PDFs of both. Both cover that Fantasy-meets-Horror feel I love in my games. Also, both cover a theme I revisit time and time again: magic in the face of something new. In Vassen, the Old Ways are confronted by the Industrial Revolution. In Symbaroum, it is magic, and its corrupting effects in the face of the new, Sun-based, monotheistic faith.  Given that today is the day when day and night are equal, Symbaroum edges out in terms of theme.

Symbaroum is a Swedish dark fantasy tabletop RPG set in a world where a fragile human civilization clings to its borders, and just beyond them lies Davokar, an ancient, sprawling forest saturated with ruin, magic, and corruption. It's equal parts high fantasy adventure and creeping nature horror, drawing on Nordic, Celtic, and Slavic mythology to tell a story about the price of ambition.

If the Vernal Equinox represents the perfect, fleeting moment between day and night, Symbaroum is the RPG that lives in the twilight. Created by Free League, it is half High Fantasy and half Folk Horror, wrapped in some of the most evocative art the hobby has ever seen. 

I do want to mention the art first. The illustrations by Martin Grip are extraordinary: haunting, earthy, and alive with dread. It's not just the look of the art, it is the feel. This game feels like a cold, rainy day in an unknown Scandinavian village. Winter is over, but this is still not spring or summer. 

The premise is simple: A people have fled a dead, war-torn land to settle on the edge of the ancient forest of Davokar. They want to rebuild their empire, but the forest is not a passive backdrop. It is a living, breathing, and deeply vengeful entity. 

Fantasy

Knights, queens, treasure hunters, witches, and wandering barbarian clans; Symbaroum has all the archetypes of classic fantasy. The world of Ambria is richly detailed, with political intrigue, warring factions, and ancient lineages. There are ruins to explore, artifacts to recover, and a vibrant cast of cultures that feel genuinely distinct from generic Tolkien-esque fare.

Horror

The forest is the horror. Davokar is not simply dangerous; it is wrong. Every spell cast, every ruin disturbed, every artifact pocketed risks accumulating Corruption: a creeping darkness that twists body and soul. The elves of the Iron Pact do not protect the forest; they enforce its quarantine. Something ancient sleeps beneath the trees, and the game's entire mechanical design keeps reminding you that you are trespassing. Think Princess Mononoke, but the forest wins.

Most horror-fantasy hybrids bolt the genres together. Symbaroum weaves them into the same thread. The Corruption system means magic, the engine of fantasy, is also the engine of horror. Every powerful choice leaves a mark. 

Dark Fantasy

This game is not one of high fantasy or even low-magic, gritty dungeon crawls. You are not on an epic quest. You might be a hero, but you are not Conan, or Frodo, or the Grey Mouser. You are not even really Elric, though Elric would understand this world better than the previous three. You are searching for ancient secrets, you are going to go into that forest for the same reasons characters have been going into dungeons. But now the stakes are higher and darker. 

Symbaroum does something quietly different from most fantasy RPGs. Instead of presenting a world waiting to be explored and conquered, it gives us a world where exploration feels like trespass. Civilization stands on the edge of something ancient and dangerous, and every step forward risks awakening powers that should perhaps remain buried.

It is a game where the heroes are not simply explorers. They are intruders.

While not strictly "Old School" in its math, Symbaroum shares the OSR soul. It is deadly. Combat is fast and often ends in a single well-placed blow. It rewards caution, preparation, and a healthy respect for the unknown.

There are hints of dark fantasy, reminiscent of the grim worlds of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. At the same time, the folklore elements feel closer to Scandinavian myth and old fairy tales, where the forest is mysterious, alive, and often dangerous. In ShadowDark, there is the Dungeon-as-living-thing, or maybe more to the point, Darkness. Symbarous does the same thing for the forest, or, again, more to the point, the unknown frontier. 

The Old Ways are not lost. They are still out there, and they don't care about your sun god.

There is also a subtle echo of cosmic horror. The ruins of the old empire hint at terrible magical forces that once reshaped the world. Many players discover that the deeper secrets of Davokar may be far older and stranger than anyone suspects.

It creates a world where curiosity and dread walk hand in hand.

Rules and Mechanics 

Symbaroum is a d20-based system where you want to roll under your attributes. Attributes give you "bonuses" in terms of negative numbers (what you subtract from the die roll). Low attributes can even give you penalties for positive numbers you add to the die roll. Mostly the scores are between 5 and 15, with an average of 10. A 15 gives you a -5, and 5 gives +5, and so on. Pretty simple, really. 

The Game Master never rolls dice. Players roll for their attacks, and players roll to defend. This shifts the focus entirely to the players’ choices and their struggle to survive.

The core of the game is the Internal Balance. Every time a mystic (magic-user) casts a spell, they gain Temporary Corruption. If that total exceeds their Threshold, the corruption becomes Permanent. Once your Permanent Corruption reaches a certain point, you transform into an "Abomination" or a monster of the night. I am sure there are lots of ways to get corruption, but I focused on the mystics 

It is a literal struggle to keep the "light" of your humanity from being overtaken by the "darkness" of the forest’s influence.

Sometimes it is fine to take a point of corruption for a greater good. This is pretty typical of how the witches in the game work. They will sacrifice some humanity or light if it means a great goal is met. For me that is kind of a key element in playing a witch and one I really like. 

The rules themselves are divided up between Setting, Player's Guide, and Game Master's Guide. Not a bad division by any means. Though there is some flipping required. To create a character, I kept going back and forth between sections of the Player's Guide. So this part could be streamlined a bit. It is no worse than, say, the rules for the WitchCraft RPG and better than the rules for AD&D 1st edition.  

The system really supports the setting well. The corruption, as I mentioned, is a key element and really sits well within the setting. Moreso than say Fear and Horror in old Ravenloft. It is more akin to how Sanity works within Call of Cthulhu, or Taint in WitchCraft/Armageddon. The setting and the mechanics support each other well. 

Larina and Elowen

Normally, I try out a character for a new game, typically my "Drosophila melanogaster" Larina. But since witches are assumed to have a witch-in-training with them, I am opting to add Elowen as well. For this I gave Larina another 80 experience points (roughly 5-6 adventures worth) to boost her up. In this darker world of Symbaroum, I don't think a witch like Amaranth would work. BUT oddly enough, I could easily do Grýlka and Doireann. Ogres and Goblins are among the races you can pick. Ok, Grýlka is a troll and not an ogre, but what are the differences really?

In this, I am saying that Larina was already living on the edges of the Davokar forest and has gone somewhat native. Ok. Feral might be a better word. Elowen is still from the civilized lands and has gone to learn witchcraft because she sees ghosts everywhere. 

Larina Nix
Human (Barbarian) Witch

Shadow: White with flecks of rust and ash, appears as her reflection (Nature).
Quote: "I have dedicated my life to witchcraft, and it has given me a life in return."

Toughness: 10*/10
Pain Threshold: 3

Corruption: 1/1
Corruption Threshold: 7

Defense: 7

Experience: 80 (0)

Accurate: 10 (0)
Cunning: 15 (-5)
Discreet 9 (+1)
Resuasive 10 (0)
Quick 7 (+3)
Resolute 13 (-3)
Strong 5 (+5)
Vigilant 11 (-1)

Contacts (Witches)
Witchcraft (A)
Witchsight
Loremaster (N)
Ritualist (A)

Curse (Evil Eye) (A)
Lay on Hands (A)
Nature's Embrace (N)
Storm Arrow (N)

Familiar (Ritual)
Fortune Telling (Ritual)
Witch Circle (Ritual)

Age: 30
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 125 lbs
Red hair, blue eyes

Larina here is a "barbarian" only because she has been living on the edge of civilization for a while. I could have given her more experience points to bump up her powers, but I thought this was pretty good.

Elowen Hale
Human (Ambrian) Witch

Shadow: White with ash-gray flecks, appearing as a ghostly image (Nature).
Quote: "I died once. I am not looking forward to doing it again."

Toughness: 10*/10
Pain Threshold: 4

Corruption: 1/1
Corruption Threshold: 8

Defense: 5

Experience: 25 (0)

Accurate: 10 (0)
Cunning: 11 (-1)
Discreet 9 (+1)
Resuasive 10 (0)
Quick 5 (+5)
Resolute 15 (-5)
Strong 7 (+3)
Vigilant 13 (-3)

Privledged
Witchsight
Alchemist (A)
Witchcraft (N)
Ritualist (N)

Curse (Evil Eye) (A)
Inherit Wound (N)

Familiar (Ritual)
Necromancy (Ritual)

Age: 19
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 114 lbs
White hair, gray eyes

Ok, both of these work really well for me, to be honest. I figure Elowen's power manifests as ghosts rising up to perform her actions. Yes, she still sees ghosts.

Who Should Play This?

With today's theme, this game has equal parts light and dark, fantasy and horror, civilization and the great wild unknown. So, regardless of which side of the old-school/new-school divide you come from, know that this game is darker than most new-school games and is closer in tone to many old-school ones. 

This is a game for players who prefer tension to triumph.

If your idea of fantasy is leveling up, clearing dungeons, and becoming untouchable heroes, Symbaroum is going to feel uncomfortable. Progress here is real, but it always comes with a cost. Power is never clean. Magic is never safe.

But if you enjoy games where every decision matters, where the question is not "can we win?" but "what will it cost us if we do?" then this is the game for you. 

And maybe most importantly for me, this is a game for players who like their witches a little dangerous.

Not safe, not sanitized, not "spellcasters with a theme," but witches who bargain, who risk, who take on corruption because sometimes that is the only way to get things done. If that resonates with you, then Symbaroum is not just a good fit. It feels like it was made for you.

The Witches of Appendix N: Michael Moorcock

Michael Moorcock is easily one of the biggest influences on Dungeons & Dragons. Certainly, his contributions rival those of Howard or Tolkien in shaping the structure of the D&D multiverse. Indeed, one can barely talk about the Multiverse of D&D without invoking Moorcock.

When people talk about Michael Moorcock in Appendix N, they usually go straight to Elric of Melniboné, Corum Jhaelen Irsei, Dorian Hawkmoon, and the eternal war between Law and Chaos. 

When I talk about Michael Moorcock and witches, I am not really talking about witches in the broom-riding, cottage-dwelling sense. I am talking about the pact-making sorts of witches. The ones who contact the beings from other planes (something that happens a lot in Moorcock's tales) and the ancient pacts that bind them.

Moorcock does not give us a village wise women. He gives us bloodlines that traffic with elementals, tribes that call heroes out of myth, and archetypes that echo across realities. His magic is not tidy. It is not academic. It is relational, dangerous, and deeply personal.

Which is why it works so well for me.

Elric the Prototype Warlock

Let’s be clear about something. Elric is not a wizard.

He does not memorize formulae in a tower and sling fire from careful study. His power comes from calling upon Arioch and other Lords of Chaos. He names them. He binds them. He bargains.

That is not arcane spellcasting in the later D&D sense.

That is a pact.

In the One Man's God post I wrote before on the Melnibonéan mythos, I pointed out that their religion and their magic are inseparable. The Lords of Chaos are not distant gods in shining heavens. They are immediate, responsive, volatile. They answer when called, but they always take something in return.

Elric’s magic is closer to a warlock than a magic-user.

Stormbringer itself is a kind of patron made steel. It feeds him power and keeps him alive, but it also owns him. That dynamic, that exchange of strength for service, is pure warlock logic.

And this is important when we talk about witches in Appendix N.

Because if Moorcock gives us a prototype warlock in Elric, he also gives us the larger framework that witches later inhabit in D&D. Magic is not a neutral force you manipulate. It is something you negotiate with.

That idea runs straight into warlocks, and through them, into witches who deal with dragons, animal lords, witch queens, and stranger patrons still.

Corum and the Old Religion

If Elric shows us the aristocratic pact, Corum shows us something closer to folk magic.

In the Corum stories, the human tribes are not sophisticated sorcerers. They do not maintain demon treaties stretching back millennia. They have rites. They have memory. They have belief.

And when the world is in peril, they summon Corum.

Not as a cleric would call upon a god for a spell. They call him as part of an older set of magical rules. A returning champion tied to the fate of their land, one who was prophesied.  This feels less like wizardry and more like the Old Religion made manifest. 

It is communal magic. It survives conquest and catastrophe because it is embedded in culture rather than codified in books. 

If I were looking for Appendix N roots of the Wicce or of the Craft of theWise, I would not find them in shining cathedrals. I would find them here, in tribal rites that blur the line between prayer and spell.

The magic works because the people believe in the pattern. That is witchcraft.

It doesn't hurt that Corum and his people are often thought of as "elves" and that much of his tales are based on a psuedo-Celtic past. 

Named Witches 

There are very few named witches, and fewer still that are called "witch." 

Myshella, the Sleeping Sorceress, is one. Though she is not called a witch, she certainly fills that role. 

Jerry Cornelius is not a witch. Not by any stretch, really, but he is fragmented. Self-aware. Reality bending around him. He shapes his reality as much as reality shapes him.  

Moorcock’s Eternal Champion is not a simple reincarnation. He is an archetype that keeps reasserting itself in different circumstances. And this is where I see the parallel to how I have played Larina over the years.  Different systems. Different worlds. Different rules. Same witch.  He is not a witch, but he and the other Eternal Champions have shaped my notions of my archetypal witches.

Moorcock’s Legacy for Witches and Warlocks

Moorcock’s influence on D&D is usually discussed in terms of Law and Chaos. Planes of exsistences and an eternal, if not Eternal (capital "E"), struggle.

But for witches, the more interesting legacy is this:  Magic is relational. Magic is cyclical. Elric shows us the warlock bound to his patron. Corum’s summoners show us the persistence of pagan rites.

That is fertile ground for witches.

Not because Moorcock hands us a cottage and a cauldron.

But because he gives us a universe where magic is negotiated, myth returns, and some souls are simply meant to walk the long road again and again.

Mail Call Tuesday: Witch Edition

 Ok. So calling any of my mail calls "witch edition" narrows it down as much as calling it "Tuesday." But I did get some things I have been waiting on for a while.

First up is the framed painting "Advanced Witch" by Eugene Jaworski.  I need to find a good place on my walls for this one. 

Again, you can find his art here and on his Instagram account. 

In the mini department, I got a nice bonus from work, so I ordered a new mini from Hero Forge. 

Yes, that is my newest witch, Elowen. I am nothing if not obsessed. 

And finally, one I have been waiting for a while, Spell Bound. 

This book features the covers of many vintage paperbacks of the witchcraft popularity craze. And yeah, I own a few, and I remember most of them.  But the book is fantastic.

There is a lot of really great stuff here, and I'll really enjoy going through it all. I loved going through the book, comparing covers to the books I still I have on my shelves. Some of these covers are what got me interested in witches to begin with. 

 So yeah, a lot this week. But some of these have been a long time coming.  

Elowen Hale: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons

“Elowen walks like she knows where the puddles are going to be before the rain even starts. She never yells when things go wrong. She just smiles and says we’ll fix it. And then we do. I like going on adventures with her. The ghosts don’t bother her, and she always remembers to pack snacks.” - Doireann, Goblin witch

In many ways, this is the core Elowen, the one I think of when I talk about her.

Elowen died, but she returned changed. Animals respond to her in uncanny ways. Certain undead recoil. Divination spells sometimes yield contradictory results when cast upon her. Detect Evil finds nothing. Detect Magic sometimes flickers.

Among her coven sisters, she is treated with reverence and caution. The Old Religion teaches that death is a doorway. Elowen has stepped through it, and then turned around and stepped back. That doesn't happen, not without a good reason. 

Elowen has a Witch Mark. In this case, the Witch Mark of Sight. Her sight allows her to see ghosts, spirits, and any incorporeal undead, even when they are invisible.  The downside is that they can also always see her. 

Elowen Hale
1st-level Human Witch (High Order), Neutral Good

Secondary Skill: Initiate

S: 10
I: 16
W: 15
D: 12
C: 14
Ch: 17

Paralysis/Poison: 13
Petrify/Polymorph: 13
Rod, Staff, or Wand: 14
Breath Weapon: 16
Spells: 15

AC: 10
HP: 6
THAC0: 20

Weapon
Dagger 1d4/1d3

Familiar: Cat, "Mirepoix"

Spells
Cantrips: Detect Curse, Ghost Sound, Chill, Mend Minor Wounds
First level: Ghostly Slashing, Detect Spirits, Minor Curse

Witch Mark: Witch Sight (see spirits)

Theme song: Home (Prospertine)

This is Elowen at the very start of her adventures. She is currently traveling the world with Doireann and Aisling as they travel with the Free Elves. 

--

Witch Marks are something new I am working on. Elowen has the Witch Mark of Sight, and it allows her to see ghosts, spirits, and any incorporeal or invisible undead. It means they can also see her and know she has seen them. Aisling also has the Witch Mark of Sight, but hers allows her to see auras. The side effect is that Aislign is looking at someone with her witch sight, they know they are being watched, and it makes them uncomfortable. 

Elowen speaks Common, her Alignment Language, Elven, and Draconic. She still has three more languages she can learn. I am fairly sure that if she continues to hang out with Dori, she will learn Goblin. I am saving the other two to figure out later on.

I am also finally detailing where she is from. She is from one of the richer sections of East Haven, or maybe just outside of it. Her family is well off; I figure her father is some sort of import/export merchant. Not someone who sells things himself, but manages a lot of merchandise for others to sell. It would also explain why they knew of Larina, or at least the witches of West Haven. It also goes to show how much the people of East Haven try to avoid thinking about anything that might remind them of West Haven, given how little Elowen first knew about things. 

She wears a witch hat that looks like Larina's. Makes sense since it was a gift from her mentor for her adventures. 

Other Stats

• Tales of the Valiant
• Pathfinder 2nd Edition

Fantasy Fridays: True20

 One of my objectives with Fantasy Fridays is to introduce people to the wide variety of Fantasy RPGs that are available to them. While each is perfectly fine on its own, I do want to talk about them on how well they provide a "Dungeons & Dragons experience" to players. Not that this is the only yardstick to use, but it is an important one. Also, what can players use from these games in their own games?

Today I am going back to an old favorite, Green Ronin's True20.  This system is a derivative of the d20 system from Wizards of the Coast, used in Dungeons & Dragons 3rd edition and now used in many games. The system, which is mult-genre or universal, began life as the system used in the first edition of Blue Rose.  The True20 version of Blue Rose is out of print now, but some of its DNA lives on in their new AGE system. But today is about True20.

True20

What is True20? It is a stripped-down version of the d20 system. Typically, there are only three classes: Adept, Expert, and Warrior. There are no hit points, but there is a damage tracker that works very well and very quickly. I think these are the key elements to its mult-genre use. I have played fantasy and modern horror with it, and neither felt like I was trying to cram a square peg into a round hole.

You have the same six abilities as d20, but instead of ability scores, you just have your bonuses. Something that D&D itself would not embrace until the current 5th edition. 

All resolutions are done with a single d20. That's all you need. Attacks, skill checks, using powers, all of it is a d20 + mods and compared to a DC score. It is really that simple.

Because it is simple, you can build just about anything you want. There was (well is, you can still buy things) support for True20. So if you like horror, sci-fi, fantasy, or anything else, you could find it. Particular to today's conversation is their Fantasy Paths supplement that helps you build all sorts of fantasy classes like Assassins, Barbarians, Clerics, and so on. There are also NPC stat blocks for all these classes for levels 1 to 20. No witch, but with this system, you can reskin any adept into a witch with no issues. I did ues the Adept's Handbook a lot for this.

Speaking of fantasy, back when BlueRose was under the True20 system, I ran a game called Black Rose that combined Blue Rose and Ravenloft. You can read that here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5. Needless to say, it worked rather well.

I also played a modern horror game called "Vacation in Vancouver" that worked amazingly well. They both showcased the system's power and flexibility and were really fun. It is a shame Green Ronin no longer supports it like they did. But I suppose that AGE, its successor, can do a lot of what True20 and some more. I'll have to revisit AGE for this series. Though I will say one thing. 

It now dawns on me that a lot went into my "Ordinary World" Night World for NIGHT SHIFT was detailed in these True20 game sessions. 

While this system is not actively supported, all the PDFs are still on DriveThruRPG, and you can get some of the books as hardcover Print-on-Demand. The books were originally only softcover so this is nice. Also, since the line is done, getting all the books you need to play is fairly inexpensive on DriveThru.  Since it is d20-derived, you can use other d20 products with it to expand your options. It would take some work, but it can be done. What works best are adventures. They convert easier than, say, new classes, but even that is not very hard using the Fantasy Paths examples. 

Can it Do D&D?

Well, the simple answer is yes. It can play a D&D-style game easily and has a lot in common with D&D 3rd edition. I also contend it can do a solid OSR-style game too, though there are two features that run counter to the OSR feel. First, there is no Vancian magics; Adepts/Wizards/Clerics can keep firing off their spells as long as they make their rolls. Also, there are no hit points, only a damage tracker. These aspects keep it from feeling like, say, AD&D 1st ed, and likely won't appeal to many old-school players. For new gamers, Players would have to build out their powers ala Fantasy Paths to cover whatever new class they want to play.  Mechanically, there really is no difference between a Divine Soul Sorcerer and, say, a Cleric or Celestial Pact Warlock. The powers might all be the same, just role-played differently.

True20 has now slipped into the realm of "kitbashing RPGs" that is take what you want and build the game you want. I think this the one thing it does better than AGE right now. But I'll take on AGE at a later date. 

Would I still play True20? Of course. I loved it then and look back on it now with extreme fondness. I also still love BlueRose, but I think I am content with the AGE version of that now. 

Larina for True20

This one is easy since I already have a few True20 versions of her. There was my BlueRose version, my Modern True20 version, and a Fantasy True20 version. All ranging in levels and build types. This version sort of combines all of those versions.

In truth, her stats as they appear on paper are really not much different than a wizard or some other spellcaster. The key with True20 is the role-playing aspect. I mean, that is true everywhere, but this is even more important here, really. 

Larina Nix

20th-level Human Witch (Adept)

Strength: +0
Dexterity: +1
Constitution: +1
Intelligence: +4
Wisdom: +4
Charisma: +4

Initiative: +1
BAB: +10, Melee Attack: +11, Ranged Attack: +11
Defence, Dodge: 21
Defence, Parry: 20

Size: Medium
Speed: 30ft

Toughness: +2
Fortitude: +9
Reflex: +7
Will: +18

Vice: Cynical
Virtue: Thoughtful

Larina art by Jerome Hrs

Skills
Bluff +15 (11), Climb +1 (1), Concentration +17 (13), Craft (Potions) +16 (12), Diplomacy +16 (12), Disable Device +5 (1), Disguise +4 (0), Escape Artist +1 (0), Gather Info. +14 (10), Handle Animal +14 (10), Intimidate +10 (6), Jump +1 (1), Knowledge (History) +10 (6), Knowledge (Arcane) +21 (17), Knowledge (Religion) +7 (3), Knowledge (Occult) +19 (15), Languages +14 (14), Medicine +10 (6), Notice +12 (8), Search +10 (6), Sense Motive +11 (7), Sleight of Hand +9 (8), Stealth +4 (3), Survival +11 (7), Swim +2 (2) 

Feats and Talents
The Talent, Iron Will, Leadership, Attractive, Familiar (Cotton Ball), Contacts (x2), Great Fortitude 

Powers (Save DC 24)
Blink, Cure, Fire Shaping, Ghost Touch, Mana Blast, Mana Shield, Mind Probe, Mind Reading, Mind Shaping, Mind Touch, Move Object, Object Reading, Psychic Blast, Purifying Light, Second Sight, Sense Minds, Sleep, Teleport, True Seeing

--

Again, I am pretty happy with this build. There is still some life in this system if you ask me. 

Links

• BlueRose True20 Edition
• Review: Blue Rose (True20 Edition)
• Blue Rose and True20
• Plays Well With Others: Blue Rose
• Character Creation Challenge: Blue Rose 1st Edition, True20: Marissa
• Reviews, True20 Edition
• Willow & Tara: True20 
• Witch Hunter Robin: True 20
• True Spell Casting: True 20

True20 Products on DriveThruRPG for Fantasy play

• True20 Adventure Roleplaying, Revised Edition (Core rules)
• True20 Bestiary
• True20 Fantasy Paths
• Handbooks for classes, some fantasy with other genres
• True20 Adept's Handbook
• True20 Expert's Handbook
• True20 Warrior's Handbook

And an example of a complete fantasy campaign.

• Legends of Excalibur: Arthurian Adventures (True20)

In Search Of...Ramal LaMarr

In Search Of… Ramal LaMarr

Every so often, I run into a name that feels less like a person and more like a half-remembered fever dream. Ramal LaMarr is one of those names.

I first encountered him the same way many gamers of a certain age did. Not through dance, and not through music stores, but through the pages of Dragon Magazine. Tucked away in the advertising margins of the mid-1980s, alongside mail orders for electronic dice, miniature ads, and fantasy figurines, was something unexpected.

A record advertisement.

Not a soundtrack.
Not a movie score.

Belly dance music.

Specifically, Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance and Empires of Dance by Ramal LaMarr.

At the time, it barely registered. Dragon was full of all sorts of strange things. But the name lingered. Years later, when I revisited Dragon #98 for my This Old Dragon series, the ad jumped out again, this time louder. It was no longer just a curiosity in the margins of a magazine. It felt like a clue.

Dragon Magazine

In Dragon Magazine #98 (June 1985), Ramal LaMarr’s albums were advertised explicitly as “MUSIC for Adventure Gaming!” The ad promoted two LPs: Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance and Empires of Dance. 

Both were available by mail order from Lotus Records, a small Milwaukee-based label. There was no game company logo or endorsement and no elaborate explanation. Just the quiet assumption that gamers would understand why this music belonged at the table.

And honestly, that assumption was probably correct.

The mid-1980s gaming scene was full of these cultural overlaps. Fantasy roleplaying, New Age mysticism, occult bookstores, exotica records, and mail-order catalogs all blended together in ways that feel very foreign now. If you wanted atmosphere for your game, you built it yourself. Candles, incense, weird records, whatever you could find.

Ramal LaMarr’s music promised atmosphere. I do not know a great deal about the genre, but I do know I plan to use this music when I finally run the Desert of Desolation trilogy, which appeared around the same time as these ads.  Tracks like "Cities of the Jinn," "Ritual Fire Music," and "Wand Dance of the Scarlet Sorceress" from Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms are practically custom-made for these adventures. Even one online catalog files Ramal LaMarr under "occult," so you know it has my attention.

Following the Music Outside the Dungeon

Step outside the pages of Dragon Magazine, and Ramal LaMarr stops being a gaming curiosity and becomes something else entirely.

His music was composed for belly dance performance, not fantasy gaming. His best-known album, Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance, was released in 1983, followed a year later by Empires of Dance, both on Lotus Records. There is a third album, Pleasure Gardens Of Dance (1987), which sounds a little different, and another in 1989, Exotica.  Neither of these later albums was advertised in Dragon Magazine. At least, not that I have seen. He would also appear on a compilation album, Dance Of Mystery, in 2015 with his song Dance Of Mystery.

The sound is unmistakably of its time. Synthesizers sit alongside electric guitar and bass, while traditional percussion instruments, such as African drums and the tabla, anchor the rhythm. Throw in some kanoon and mbira, and LaMarr goes from curiosity to multi-instrumentalist. The result is music that feels ritualistic, sensual, and deeply rooted in the early-1980s studio aesthetic.

This was not archival folk music attempting to reproduce traditional Middle Eastern styles. It was modern studio work designed to evoke an imagined ancient world. Mystery, sensuality, and atmosphere were clearly part of the goal.

The album's own liner notes describe the music as conveying "authentic rhythms and moods of the East with a wonderful quality that transcends time and geographical boundaries," promising to "inspire visions of mystic times past and dreams for future aspirations." 

Which, again, explains why it made perfect sense to advertise it to Dungeon Masters.

Over time, the albums slipped out of print. Copies became harder to find. What had once been a niche record slowly turned into a collector’s item. Belly dancers still search for the LPs. Vinyl collectors trade stories and digital transfers. Online threads periodically appear asking the same question.

Where did Ramal LaMarr go? 

Ramal LaMarr After Dragon Magazine

This is where the trail begins to fade.

There are no confirmed biographical details about Ramal LaMarr’s real name, musical training, nationality, or early life. No interviews have surfaced. No promotional biographies. Even Discogs, usually a good archive of production details, preserves only the album credits and publishing information.

One name does appear repeatedly: Chandrani.

She is referenced in track titles, most notably Raks Chandrani. Community recollections claim that Ramal and Chandrani lived in Germantown, WI, and that she was deeply involved in the dance world. One commenter even claims she later died of cancer. It is verified that on his albums, she played the Zills, or finger cymbals. It has been confirmed she was his wife and featured on the covers of his albums. I guess I really should say their albums. While Ramal played almost every instrument, she feels like a full contributor to the sound of these albums.

Germantown, Wisconsin, is outside my Illinois "Corridor" of gaming influence; it does sit in what many have been calling the Gaming Fertile Crescent. An area between Lake Geneva and the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. But that is for another "In Search Of..."

These stories may be true, but they remain anecdotal. They belong more to the oral history of a small artistic community than to verifiable archival sources.

What we can say with confidence is that Ramal LaMarr recorded at least two albums, published through Lotus Records and its imprint Daughter of the Jinn Music, and that his work circulated widely enough to leave a long echo even after the records themselves disappeared.

One YouTube commenter suggested that Ramal was still alive as recently as five years ago, though attempts to contact his former label, Lotus Records, have yielded nothing.

Another possibility is that Lotus Records was not a traditional label at all. Many niche musicians in the early 1980s released records through private-press imprints, often little more than names created to manufacture and distribute their own albums. If that is the case here, then Lotus Records may simply have been Ramal LaMarr himself.

Anyone online who claims to have known Ramal and Chandrani describes them the same way: lovely, generous people.

What Happened Next?

That is the question that keeps coming up.

There is no reliable public information about Ramal LaMarr’s life after the mid-1980s. No additional albums have surfaced. No modern performances or teaching listings can be clearly connected to him. No official website exists, and there is no widely documented obituary.

In other words, Ramal LaMarr joins a long list of creators who burned brightly in a niche cultural space and then quietly stepped away. 

Why This Still Matters

Ramal LaMarr fascinates me because he represents a moment that no longer quite exists.

A time when a belly dance LP could be advertised in a role-playing game magazine without explanation. When a small regional label could produce something that quietly embedded itself in multiple subcultures. When mystery was not part of the marketing plan. It was simply the way things worked.

I discovered Ramal LaMarr in the pages of Dragon Magazine, but he clearly did not belong there alone. His music belonged to dancers, gamers, collectors, and anyone looking for sounds that felt a little different and a little magical.

Ramal Lamarr and Ronald E. Pillat, the Man Behind the Music

Research is a funny thing. As of right now, I have been working on this post for a little over a year. Digging up old details, reading local newspapers for mentions. But it was not until I decided to look up copyright details for "Daughter of Jinn Music."  That opened up a lot of information for me.

It seems as recently as 2011, a copyright application was filed for "Lands of Pleasure and Delight et al." Tucked away in the application was the best clue I have uncovered in a long time. 

Ramal LaMarr, pseud. of Ronald Pillat (author of pseudonymous work); Domicile: United States; Citizenship: United States. Authorship: Sound recording, performance, production, music and lyrics.

There is an address associated with the filing and it is in Germantown, WI. But that house now seems to be gone and new one has been built in its place with new owners (so please don't try to contact them).

So who is, or more to the point was, Ronald E. Pillat?

There are more copyright claims for all of the Ramal LaMarr albums, including notes indicating that Ramal LaMarr was the pseudonym for Pillat. 

Sadly, this is almost where the trail ends. It seems that Ronald E. Pillat, born May 24, 1951, passed away on  August 13, 2021.  This Ronald E. Pillat did live in the right area (North Prairie, Wisconsin) and was the age I would have suspected.  The 1951 date also tracks with information found in the pulbic records for the copyright for Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance.

I am disappointed, to be honest. I posted first about Ramal LaMarr in 2017. Had I done this research, I could have reached out to Ronald Pillat for more information.  I am happy, though I can finally put a name to Ramal LaMarr. I hope that others find this half as interesting as I did.

I am playing Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance while working on this. Is it D&D music?  It doesn't matter if I think it is or not, its connection to Dragon Magazine is enough. And if my own research has anything to say about it, enough gamers my age remember the ads fondly and that too is enough. But, if you really want my opinion? Yes. It is. I want to play this while running a desert-themed adventure.  Maybe even something for my Wasted Lands: The Dying Age campaign. Certanily there will be a Bard in my games named Ramal at some point.

Thank you Ramal LaMarr for such a wonderful research idea and your funky ads in Dragon Magazine. Thank you and Chandrani for your passion and wonderful album covers. And thank you, Ronald E. Pillat, for bringing all of this to life. I only wish I had had the chance to tell you all this myself.

Links

Copyright details for Ramal LaMarr / Ronald E. Pillat (1951 - )

Discogs: Ramal LaMarr artist page

• Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance
• Empires Of Dance
• Pleasure Gardens of Dance
• Exotica

YouTube Links

• Ramal LaMarr - Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance - Side One 
• Ramal LaMarr - Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance - Side Two
• Ramal LaMarr - Pleasure Gardens of Dance - Side One
• Ramal LaMarr - Pleasure Gardens of Dance - Side Two 
• Ramal LaMarr ‎ - "Princess of the Nile" from Empires of Dance
• Ramal LaMarr - "Golden Daughters of RA" from Empires of Dance
• Ramal LaMarr - "The Ancient Queendoms of Sheba" from Empires of Dance

DJ Farraginous blog, “Ramal LaMarr - Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance.”
https://djfarraginous.wordpress.com/2017/08/20/ramal-lamarr-omens-oracles-mysticisms-of-dance/

Hanttula Exotica archive: Omens, Oracles & Mysticisms of Dance
https://www.hanttula.com/exotica/omens-oracles-mysticisms-of-dance/

Instagram post of Omens, Oracles, and Mysticisms of Dance 
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMURiJyO6q4/?img_index=1

Reddit: “Ramal Lamarr - Where is he today?”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bellydance/comments/smfdpi/ramal_lamarr_where_is_he_today/

Reddit: “Looking for out of print LPs by Ramal LaMarr”
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bellydance/comments/kezozh/looking_for_out_of_print_lps_by_ramal_lamarr/

Wasted Lands: The Dying Age

 In my rereading of many of the classic Appendix N titles, I have come around again to Jack Vance's Dying Earth. The Dying Earth genre is not one I spent much time with back in the heyday of my D&D/AD&D playing life in the 1980s, but one I came upon much later. 

Honestly, my first foray into this sub-genre of fantasy began with Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique tales. I later moved on to Vance and to other end-of-time works like the Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock, and even the ideas about it from the DC/Vertigo Comics Books of Magic. This also led me to Lin Carter's Gondwane tales and Gardner Fox's Kothar. Even the earliest story of all Dying Earth tales, H. G. Well's The Time Machine. 

What I find most fascinating about these works is that they are not just "post-apocalyptic." In fact, they are far more alien and mystical than that. We are not dealing with a world that is recovering from a disaster. We are dealing with a world that is simply old and run-down. Civilization has risen and fallen so many times that history itself is legend, and legend itself is rumor. Sorcerers are those who remember things that nobody else remembers, ruins are piled on top of even older ruins, and magic is something that nobody is quite sure how to stop.

These worlds are, in many ways, a mirror to many of the settings that we start with in our own works of fantasy. We love to start with a "fresh" setting. We love to start with a "fresh" kingdom. We love to start with a "fresh" magic. We love to start with a "fresh" hero. We don't start with a tired kingdom. We don't start with tired magic. We don't start with a tired hero.

Throughout my writing here, I've touched upon this genre a bit, sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally, by circling around it. I've written about my time spent in Zothique, Vance's strange future Earth, and games like Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, which draw upon that sense of weird future-antiquity. Indeed, even my writing about fantasy worlds and future lands touches upon this idea in some way. But what if fantasy isn't set in a distant past, but in a future beyond all human imagination?

This idea gave rise to a game idea that has been rattling around in my head for a bit now.

Wasted Lands: The Dying Age

The Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age RPG already gives us a mythic prehistory. It is a world of early civilizations, rising gods, ancient magic, and heroes who will eventually become legend. It is a world before recorded history, a time in which the myths of humankind are still being written.

But what of the last in that series?

What does the last mythic age look like?

This question gave rise to Wasted Lands: The Dying Age.

While the Dreaming Age marks the beginning of history, the Dying Age marks its end. Not centuries, not thousands of years. millions of years. More time between the Dying Age and us than between the Dreaming Age and us. The Dying Age is set so far in the future that everything familiar to us in the present day has become legend. The continents have merged yet again, one last time, into one last supercontinent, perhaps Pangea Ultima or Novopangea. The seas have risen and fallen and risen and fallen and risen yet again. The mountains have been uplifted and worn down many, many times.

The sun is growing old. In the sky above, it shines larger and redder than it did before. The days are longer and hotter, the seasons are stranger, and in the night sky, there are wonders beyond what our ancestors could have seen. The Moon, a constant companion to humanity since the Dreaming Age, is gone. Its recession from Earth since the dawn of time has reached a critical point, and it has been thrown free of Earth's gravity. Out there in the dark, beyond all of our worlds, patient observers can see the first hint of light from the Andromeda galaxy growing brighter as it moves closer to our own Milky Way. The heavens themselves are changing now.

Yet still, human beings linger on in a barely perceptible way.

Perhaps there are only a few thousand of them left, scattered across the surface of the Last Continent. They live in scattered cities, in wandering tribes, in strange little cultures built around traditions nobody really understands anymore. They remember a few of the old things. They tell tales of empires that perhaps existed a million years ago. They dig in ruins older than their own language.

And here is magic in the world.

Perhaps there has always been magic in the world, waiting patiently in the ruins of forgotten cultures. Perhaps it is returning now that the world is growing thin with age. In the Dying Age, there are sorcerers. They are not scholars, but archaeologists of the magical arts. Every single spell they use is from some civilization that perhaps existed a million years ago, or a cult that nobody really understands anymore.

The world itself is changing, too. The great beasts that used to rule over Earth are gone now, victims of a million years of slow decline. In their place, other creatures have risen to assume their places, giant arthropods and stranger creatures.

A farmer might hitch a wagon to a massive stag beetle instead of a mule. Herds of enormous cockroaches are raised for their surprisingly nutritious milk. Armored millipedes crawl through the forests like living trains of chitin. Some cities even keep domesticated mantises as guardians or war beasts. Giant ants and giant termite war with each other across the vast internal desert of the Last Continent. I have not figured out a replacement for horses yet. I am thinking of something akin to a smaller animal grown large, like a hare or jackrabbit. I do have giant riding bats, though. 

There are humans, now millions of years after us, who have evolved into other shapes, and some are only slightly recognizable as human. These will be my orc, goblin, and troll standins. 

It is strange, unsettling, and yet somehow perfectly natural in a world that has lasted for billions of years.

The Dying Age is not a despairing age, though it might seem that way to an outsider. No, it is something closer to quiet endurance. Humanity has survived ice ages, extinctions, and the rise and fall of countless civilizations. It may yet survive the long twilight of the sun itself. There is melancholy here and a general sense of ennui, but there are still humans fighting against the dying of the light.

The stories told in this age are not about building kingdoms that will last forever. Nothing lasts forever anymore. No, they are about what still matters when the world itself is nearing its final chapters. And perhaps the stubborn refusal to disappear quietly.

In many ways, the Dying Age is a completion of a circle that begins in the Dreaming Age. One is present at the birth of myth. The other is present at its final echo. Between them lies all of human history, from the first fires lit in a dark age to the last red sun setting over the last continent.

And yet, in that distant future, under that ancient red sun, there are still adventures waiting to be told.

The Dying Age: Mechanics

Here is where I get to cheat. Wasted Lands: The Dying Age is mechanically no different from Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. This is just a different campaign model. Though the idea of Divine/Heroic Touchstone should be addressed. In the Dreaming Age, these are gifts of power that bring the characters closer to their divine apotheosis. In Thirteen Parsecs, they are also used to help define heroic characters. 

In the Dying Age, heroes take on a different tone. At first, I wanted to avoid using them, but in truth, they are loved by the players and me. So if there is a pervasive, light feeling of melancholia here, then these are the rewards for the characters who say, "No. I am not dead yet."

Even though I stressed this setting is not Post-Apocalyptic, I can see using some ideas from Gamma World here in search of lost civilizations. 

There are no cosmic horrors here. There are old gods, but their worship is more akin to sacrifice and cults than organized religion. The world is far too decadent and too old for that. 

The reasonable question arises. Why use Wasted Lands when Hyperboria 3rd edition (or any edition) does exactly this? The answer is largely, I have grown to like Wasted Lands more. Plus, I love the rather perfect symmetry of using Wasted Lands for both the beginning and ending of the human saga.  

Larina: The Ash Witch

The Doctor: At the end of everything, we should expect the company of immortals, so I've been told.

- Doctor Who: Hell Bent

I could not help but notice a trend in the various "end of time" tales that have been featured in my re-exploration of Appendix N. We have Fox's Red Lori, Vance's Javanne, and Carter's Queen of Red magic. What do they all have in common? They are all powerful red-headed witches.

Yeah. I noticed.

One of the first things I did was create a version of Larina here at the end of time. Why her and not, say, a new witch? I liked the idea of a character who could remember bits of all her past lives, something of a Larina Ultima. If Larina of the Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is something of an Ur-Larina, then this is her ultimate form. In this world, she is a seeress and a prophetess, though she will admit that her sight is limited because there just isn't that much future actually left. 

In the far future of Wasted Lands: The Dying Age, Larina still exists, but she is no longer the vibrant witch of West Haven or the wandering occult scholar of earlier ages.

She is known simply as The Ash Witch. 

Like many of my GMPCs, she serves as a witness to the age. She appears to the PCs at strange moments, offering warnings, riddles, or fragments of half-remembered lore. Sometimes she seems to know them already. Sometimes she speaks as though she remembers lives that have not yet happened.

Unlike many of her other incarnations, this Larina is not trying to change the world. There is nothing left to change. 

Here, she also makes the last stand with The One Who Remains. 

She does know a truth. That when the last ember of this universe fades, something new will ignite. And witches have always been good at tending embers. She is the witness of the end and the midwife of the new beginning. 

Currently, I have a group playing NIGHT SHIFT. I might convince them of a Wasted Lands: The Dying Age one-shot. But it is a world I am certainly going back to.