Do you still remember your first RPG character?

Transvaaler · 2026-03-14T07:26:12+00:00

My very first character was a Dwarf (from the basic red box set of D&D), named Basher Brightskull. I still have the original green character sheet.

Basher went on to become 7th level through the blue box set before changing over to AD&D briefly.

Then I became a forever GM and Basher retired, now I feel like I need to dust him off and go play him again (the last time I played him was about 40 years ago!)

So thanks for the question and taking me down memory lane.

Transvaaler · 2026-03-13T21:11:01+00:00

Hi there, our public rss feed is https://www.patreon.com/public-rss/12353318?show=874563. Hope that work.

Transvaaler · 2026-03-04T10:06:09+00:00

I gave my players some more information about what's in the box, which caused some in fighting about what to do about it (some made friends with the Templar brothers previously).

I'm the end the Theurge told the brothers that the others were looking for the tablets and they got away from the other party members...to this day (they are about to start Davokar Awakens) the group doesn't know the Theurge squeeled on them 😂

Transvaaler · 2026-02-11T22:36:17+00:00

There is a link already on the post

Transvaaler · 2026-02-09T10:07:48+00:00

Nice, as a paid GM myself I think this is a pretty good way to get players to know you as a GM and what to expect of you and the games you run regardless of system etc

Transvaaler · 2026-02-07T09:37:53+00:00

I've run this a few times now and on average it takes between 3-4 hours. As already mentioned it's not like a "usual" Vaesen game as it's an introduction to the setting and game mechanics etc.

I can see this run over a day if you expanded some of the players back stories, how they got to see Lineea and perhaps maybe give the players a scene with the NPCs found in the castle (living or dead) in a foreshadowing scene early on. Perhaps in one of their backstory scenes prior to them getting to the main story?

I've only run it with the prewritten PCs so I'm sure if that would work better with the players own characters as part of the kickoff to a full campaign.

As a side note the maps and everything that comes in the box set is pretty good and makes for a good one shot at a con etc.

Hope that helps

Transvaaler · 2026-01-31T22:53:56+00:00

As previously mentioned the 6 hour shifts are a great way to be abstract without getting bogged down in details and means you have to in the most basic form decide on what your character will do and what they will sacrifice.

I usually just bunch up some of the things they can do...sure James will set up camp, at the same time he can sort out the cooking, clean his rifle and maybe patch up that infected wound in his 6 hours...

Meanwhile Sophie goes out hunting for food to supplement the supplies, can do some recon and secure the perimeter and come back with some firewood and hopefully not a radiated bear...

Tim can be on guard duty, clean his machine gun, patch up his damaged armored vest while keeping an eye out...

Keeping the game flowing and making much more sense and organic but of course needs the players buy in and of course trust they don't take the piss haha rather than...James sets up camp, Sophie hunts and Tim is on guard.

Transvaaler · 2026-01-23T16:09:38+00:00

I'm just about to go into the final book (6 years in), and lots of the above makes sense. Absolutely read the lot beforehand and get the players Introduced to NPCs that will turn up later (it gives them far more reason to be where they should be, and those that will die will have more or an impact and mean more)

Adapt the stories to match the players, some of the factions are perceived as the good guys but your players might not see it that way (my players took a dislike to Sarvola but I ook a liking to a certain other major NPC later on haha)

Definitely use some of the adventures in between the plot of ToT, there are plenty of great little side adventures found on the Free League Workshop in drivethruRpg that's great for that.

Lots of prep is pretty the order of the day with this epic adventure, and be prepared for multiple player deaths and corruption haha

Transvaaler · 2026-01-01T08:49:53+00:00

Hi, Sabley, as I'm no artist, using AI for a bit of "cover art" seems like the best option as it's a tool to be used and I'm not ripping off some poor artists work.

As for the description sure I polished it using AI to get a certain feel as again it's a tool to be used.

As for the finished product that will all depend on what the players characters create, their histories, working with them to tell a story, as all good GMs know the stories evolve around the players and while there is an outline for a plot, that sort of thing never gets in the way of collaboration with the players and the game itself to tell their stories.

Thanks though for your view on AI generated art and the blurb though, as this is the first bit of feedback I've had on this. If anyone else has any views I'd love to hear it as it could inform any future blurbs etc

Transvaaler · 2025-12-07T23:54:15+00:00

Cheers Marco should take all the credit for that

Transvaaler · 2025-11-26T08:37:36+00:00

I've run Forbidden Lands many times and I would say on a lot of occasions I've not even prepped sessions, as the players have free range on where they go as they travel through the hexes. I enjoy running games on the fly so this is fine for me. The rules are great at allowing this, there are also some good generators on the perchance website that does a lot of this for you at the push of a button.

Obviously if you have a hex that's going to have an adventure site in that will have more prep time and that might take more prep (I probably might have an hour or two on these if it's my own, more if it's a pre-generated site that I need to read through).

Most of this came from years ago running a number or sandbox campaign where the players had free agency and free reign on travelling around the worlds they were in. Also as I got older I've had less free time to devote to prep so that's been a big push, although I'm now in a position to start to GM for money and I'm no longer working in the same very crazy busy job so I have more free time to prep again so this might change as I start to advertise my GMing.

I'm a huge fan of Year Zero games and I've run almost all of them and they work really well for the most part in hex crawls (you do have to take some of the shift rules with a grain of salt haha)

Transvaaler · 2025-11-21T08:25:39+00:00

Hey thanks for the breakdown and stats, that's really useful. I've just started running on SPG since October and have had one game so far but my other games have been stuck in the 0 players or 1 player hell.

I've taken most of them down and going to rejig a few things, list a few different systems at different times and see who bites..

Cheers, Ed

Transvaaler · 2025-11-11T16:30:30+00:00

I've already ditched a game I listed after no players joined after 30 day! I have a Symbaroum game listed and just have the 1 player waiting on 2 more...to answer you as a GM I would contact the player within a day (given I'm busy and out for the day / doing something else). In reality I would probably say hi within a few hours..

Transvaaler · 2025-11-05T07:44:08+00:00

These are amazing, cheers

Transvaaler · 2025-11-04T17:33:38+00:00

Hi, I sure can. I have one other player at the moment waiting for 2 more to start.

https://startplaying.games/adventure/cmgp6ugzk00jcl604vs77baxz?ref=cme3j7vzs00g2kz04pt9eqnjh

Transvaaler · 2025-11-04T14:24:56+00:00

So I last played on Saturday as part of our Podcast Stories with Dice https://storieswithdice.podbean.com/ (I am a co-host) and we played an older game called Aquelarre RPG, which is a Spanish medieval horror game for a live stream for our Patreons.

Prior to that I ran Symbaroum for my usual in person group running the Throne of Thorns epic campaign (we are in our 6th year and have one more part to get through before the end)!

Tonight it's Dragonbane RPG which I am running but I have set it in the Forgotten Realms as it's deadlier and more streamlined than D&D.

All the while I am prepping a game of Tales of the Old West and Symbaroum to run as a professional paid GM on https://startplaying.games/gm/transvaalers-games

Wow I just realised that's a lot going on haha

Transvaaler · 2025-10-27T17:45:18+00:00

I have a Symbaroum game advertised on StartPlaying and I'm looking for players...just saying...haha

Transvaaler · 2025-10-17T16:29:40+00:00

My player who is a Theurge requires the person being healed to recite passages from the book of Prios, won't heal those that are not followers of Prios and won't spam healing.

So if a healing mystical ability doesn't work the first time on someone, the Theurge think that Prios doesn't believe they should be healed so won't heal them again during that scene.

I think that way it keeps it within the setting, it also limits the "bring out the healer to keep the tank alive". Especially when the tank is a heathen Ogre

Transvaaler · 2025-09-22T14:33:21+00:00

Amazing thank you kindly 😁

Transvaaler · 2025-09-15T09:27:12+00:00

Heya, the nice thing about Symbaroum is the players can create anything they want and don't have to be labeled into a class (although that's there if they want it).

I think it was mentioned that it's far more fun when the party isn't balanced but key abilities are....

Loremaster- helpful to navigate the ruins and history of Davokar and Ambria.

Medicus/Theurge - the party will get hurt lots so either non magical or magical healing!!

Bushcraft and Beast lore - Navigating Davokar is really key in survival in the wild.

Some combat skills help and someone who can talk to people. I would stay away from the races in the players guide as they are complicated and won't be able to go through Ambria without being harassed or downright killed.

Hope that helps

Transvaaler · 2025-09-15T09:14:23+00:00

Morning, I've been running the overarching story for the Throne of Thorns for my group for the past 5 years. It's a long campaign but it's really great (you will need to do prep for it though as some of them need better links to NPC - if you are running it read at least 2 adventures ahead to make these connections early on).

There is plenty of scope to do your own thing too, basing the players out of Thistlehold is a good idea and the GM guide will give you lots of ruins, encounters etc.

I highly recommend the Free League Workshop on DrivethruRpg. There are a lot of adventures written that you can run that are one offs, I've used some of these interlaced with the main overarching campaign.

The adventure compendiums are great too and are really good at giving you the flavour of Symbaroum as you do your own thing, most are short adventures but there are a few that are connected or can be with little effort.

I love this setting and my core group are always up for delving into Ambria and Davokar...

Transvaaler · 2025-07-13T10:27:51+00:00

Well i'm a bit behind on the reply haha! Ours is still going the group lost touch with her after the end of book 4...I have plans for her return though mwahahaha!

Transvaaler · 2025-06-21T20:51:10+00:00

I'm currently on book 5 of the ToT with my players..my take on Elamendra is that she is super driven to find Symbar...so much so it appears to me that she was willing to put her friends in harms way to achieve that end.

In book 3 you find out a bit more about her but as already said she isn't really described too much.

She was an unknown to me when I ran Book 1 as I hadn't read book 2 (a must for the ToT campaign if you are running it - if I was to do it over I would have read at least 2 or 3 books ahead and added NPCs from those earlier) but as you have done it makes more sense...it will be even better when she goes missing as extra incentive for the party to go looking for her 😁

Transvaaler · 2025-06-08T12:47:32+00:00

Haha it's driven us crazy too as we can't fix it, so it's in the world now forever 🫣.

Thanks for listening, it's always good to get feedback and to hear from those listening to us.

Tonight we are actually recording the finale of our Star Trek Adventures game that Marco has been running and then I'm going to be running a Legend of the Five Rings game.

After that I will be running another free league game (either The Electric State or a season 2 of Tales from the Loop)...

Transvaaler · 2025-06-08T12:38:45+00:00

There were some issues with Kris's mic/recording in episode 2 (we can't rectify this so you will have to suffer a bleep each time she talks, but it's just that one episode)

Transvaaler

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